The Raven's pupil, the Fairy's enemy
by JyggalagJones
Summary: A story following a character of my own creation, and his journey to find out just what exactly he is, and where he is from. Ending up with a certain guild, He is trained in the ways of the magician by the guildmaster and his guildmates, and his journey shall only get more interesting from there. Rated T for Swearing, may be changed to M later.
1. Chapter 1: Identity Crisis

**Chapter one: Identity Crisis**

Feeling the waves lapping against his body, the man who was floating in the middle of the ocean suddenly opened his eyes, groaning, as he tried to remember who, or what he was.

 _Who am I? Where am I? And why am I floating in the middle of the ocean?_

Realizing that right now he should be focusing on getting to dry land, the man turned his head as he floated, searching for a boat or something of the like to come and save him, but to his chagrin he saw nothing for miles, the glimmer of the harsh afternoon sunlight off of the water the only thing that he could see. Sighing, he went back to floating along with the currents of the ocean, and after drifting off into unconsciousness a couple of times he suddenly heard something in the distance, something his sun-baked mind took a moment to process…

 _I know that sound…..the word, what's the word? Shhhh…..shiiiip? Ship! A ship! There's a ship over there!_

Turning towards the noise that now seemed to be getting closer and closer, the man saw a wooden fishing boat coming towards him, an old man looking over the side at him as he approached, his eyes wide with surprise. As the boat got closer, the old man threw a fishing net overboard just at the right time so It snagged the man as he floated in the water, the old man's powerful arms hauling the strange, floating man back up onto the ship as the old man looked down at his newly acquired cargo, scratching his chin thoughtfully.

"Hey Marcie, I found something! Better come take a look at this one!"

His eyes drifting open and shut, just before he passed into unconsciousness he heard the sounds of more footsteps running up beside him, and two voices conversing…

XXXXX

Suddenly snapping awake, the man found himself sitting straight up in a strange bed, with bandages wrapped around his stomach and head, frowning. As he sat there, trying to remember who he was and why he had been floating in the middle of the ocean, only one word came to his mind:

 _Jack._

As he tried to remember something else, after about ten minutes or so he mostly just gave up, sighing as he lay back in bed, lost in thought.

 _That must be my name then…..Jack._

Nodding to himself as he lay there, he was about to get up and try to walk around when he suddenly heard the door to whatever he was inside of swing open, and suddenly he saw the old man who had fished him from the water standing over him, his white hair and beard tied into braids as the man smiled down at him.

"Welcome back to the land of the living, Stranger! Seeing as how you've been out for about two weeks now, I would hope you've caught up on your beauty sleep! HAAHAHAHA!"

As the old man laughed heartily, he grunted as he helped Jack to his feet, inspecting the bandages around his waist and head as he did so and nodding.

"Good, good…..The bandages seem to be holding up nicely! Still, I must say…..That Purple hair you got there is sure something else…I don't think I've ever heard of hair that color before….."

Realizing for the first time that his hair was indeed purple, Jack seemed confused as he realized that his long, shoulder length hair was in fact purple! He continued to fiddle with his hair until the old man laughed again and led him over to a pan that was sitting beside his bed, a pan which held bits of shrapnel that glowed with eerie blue light, strange runes engraved on their surfaces. Picking up a piece, he held it in his hand and examined it, and as he did so he felt something strange coming from the piece of metal, a feeling that filled him with warmth and happiness, as if this metal was something special to him. As he stared at it, the old man looked over his shoulder, his face serious, and spoke.

"Hmmm…those pieces of metal were in your stomach and your head when I opened you up for surgery, and when I brought them out they began to glow like this…..who knows what it means? I gotta say though, whenever I was digging around in your chest to get the shrapnel out I swore I could hear machinery somewhere in there, but I'm sure that makes almost no sense…."

Seeming to compose himself, Jack slipped the metal in his pocket and turned to the old man and spoke.

"I'm going to keep these, if that's ok. Also, I don't remember anything, so would you mind showing me around the village and stuff? I want to know about things like this again…"

Smiling, the old man clapped him on the back and began walking towards the door

"You certainly are a strange one, kid! Come with me stranger, I'll show you around the village!"

Nodding to the old man, Jack followed him out of the house he was in and out into the village proper, looking around and taking in the sights as the old man began introducing the various parts of the town to him, grinning from ear to ear as if Jack was the first stranger to visit their house in a long time…

"And over here, you can see the town hall, and over there…..is the hospital! And of course, this is the town square!"

As they stopped in the center of what seemed to be a bustling marketplace, Jack looked around with interest as he watched the dozens upon dozens of people meander around the plaza, each with their own business to attend to, each with their own unique goal, and he smiled appreciatively as he spoke.

"I'm not sure if I've ever seen anything like this before, but I think this place is….."

Searching his brain for the right word, he finally found it and spoke.

"…..diverse. If it's okay, would you mind if I hung around here for a while? I just wanna see this stuff for myself, you know…."

Afraid the old man would get mad, Jack was surprised when he merely laughed, his pot belly bouncing as he clapped him on the back and began to walk away, his hand waving as he spoke.

"Sure! Just come on back when you're done, you hear?"

Yelling back that he would, he turned and sat down on the town fountain that was in the middle of the plaza, putting his head in his hands as he struggled to remember whatever he had forgot….Namely, his entire past.

 _It's all just one big blur….who I am, why I was floating in the ocean with shrapnel in my chest and head, all of it…_

Thinking to himself as he stared at his hand and flexed it, he was about to give up when he could have sworn that he heard the sound of a clock ticking, and the sound of gears turning! As he got up and searched for that infernal noise that wouldn't seem to go away, it finally quieted down after a few minutes, and he sat back down, sighing as he did so.

 _The hell is happening to me? Why do I keep hearing clock noises, and the sounds of gears turning at random intervals? I'm getting seriously freaked out here…_

As he sat there for the better part of a minute trying to recall his past to no avail, he finally yelled in frustration and leapt up, his hair bouncing and the faint sounds of gears rattling once again filling his ears as he stormed off down the street, his eyes fixed firmly on the ground as he walked. It wasn't until felt something strange that he stopped and looked down at himself, his body dissipating and reforming as it was made of smoke! Just as he was wondering what exactly was going on, he suddenly screamed in pain as his arm began to twist into circles, his bones snapping and shattering repeatedly as soon, his entire body began to twist and warp like a snake, his limbs twisting and turning in upon themselves over and over and over again as he writhed on the ground, wailing in pain. As he felt like his insides were burning up, his vision suddenly went dark as he heard a _POP,_ followed by a wet impact on the ground in front of him, his panicked mind racing!

 _Oh god….oh god…..did my eyes just pop out of their sockets?! What…..WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?!_

Unable to stay conscious any longer, he finally slipped into unconsciousness, his mind and vision going black as he thought he heard the screams of the people around him…..

XXXXX

 _Gears….Cogs…..Levers…..nothing but machinery…..as far as I can see…_

 _Jack floats in the middle of a sea of gears, cogs turning endlessly and steam whistling across the bleak landscape, his eyes struggling to take it all in. He wonders where he is, but as he floats around, he sees nothing that could identify what all these gears are from…._

" _Nothing but gears…what is this place…?"_

 _Finally coming to a stop before a massive sphere with three separate rings, each spinning endlessly in concentric circles around each other as Jack stared at them, swearing he had seen them somewhere before…As he stared at them, after about a minute he saw that same familiar, tiny piece of metal he had taken from the old man's house which had been in his head, the writing on it spreading like a virus to the other pieces of the machine!_

" _That piece…it looks like it was haphazardly welded into the sphere….or maybe it created the sphere..? As far as I can tell, that writing is spreading outward from the piece to the rest of the machinery here….."_

 _As he stared at the writing on the circle, he gasped it suddenly morphed into a language he could somehow understand, the words that were legible sending a chill down his spine…._

 _PROPERTY OF … AGNOSTUS MANUFACTORUM….7_ _TH_ _PIECE…..THE ASCENDANT MACHINE…..DESIGNATION…SELF-RE…AIR….MOD….LE_

 _Strange thoughts whirled through his head as he read the strange runes that were swirling across the gray machinery before his eyes. Just before he could come to a decision what they might mean, his world began to swirl, the gears dropping into the darkness below as he soon joined them, his entire vision going black as he was catapulted back into reality….._

His eyes fluttering open, as Jack's vision came back and he slowly opened his eyes he saw the head of a strangely beautiful woman standing above him, her head cocked and a damn creepy smile cross her face as she stared down at him, her sunset red hair tied behind her back as she stared at him. Staring up into her eyes, confused, Jack finally found his voice and tried to speak, but he soon found he couldn't make sound come out of his mouth! Eyes wide now, he reached up to his throat and felt it in an attempt to figure out what had happened to him, only to find that his throat felt strange, like metal was hiding just beneath his skin! Opening his mouth once more, this time noise did come out, but it sounded more like gears grinding together overlaid with static, a truly strange noise indeed.

" _kshhhhhhhhhhhhhh…..bzzt…"_

The woman looking even more confused as she stared down at him, her face looking ever creepier as her hair seemed to wrap itself around his chest and begin to squeeze! Just as he thought he would burst, a sudden POP echoed from his stomach and the sound of gears turning and clanking began steadily resonating from him, and his voice even began to work, albeit with a slightly mechanical undertone…

"Hoooo…..Haaaaa….Th-Thanks…God…what….happened to me?"

Her hair unravelling itself from his stomach and returning to its position at her back, the woman looked down at him and smiled her same creepy smile again as she spoke.

"Don't know…..Master found you in the streets of that town down there, and brought you here….Yes…."

Pausing for a second to think about what she had just said, Jack now began to wonder where the hell he was…

"Say….that's some strange hair you got there….that color…..it's different….like my hair…"

Once again perplexed by the color of his hair, the sheer brightness of the purple, Jack nodded as he looked up at her hair, smiling slightly as he admired that beautiful shade of red that it was.

"Yeah, It seems that it certainly isn't lacking in the purple department…..I gotta say though, you may have the most beautiful hair I've ever seen! Although coming from an amnesiac, I'm sure that doesn't mean much. Haha…"

Swearing he saw her blush the slightest bit before turning and moving towards the door, she seemed to stroke her hair slightly before turning back to him, her head still cocked as she did so, fidgeting awkwardly.

"Yeah….you hair's….pretty…too….anyway, the master will be in a moment, so I'll be going, bye!"

Hurrying out the door before he could call out to her, he frowned as the door shut behind her.

"Didn't even get to know her name…."

As he lay back and stared at the ceiling, he could only wonder what his strange dream had meant, and why he no longer felt quite…..organic…as he felt his insides churning away and gears moving, just like a machine…. Just as he was deep in thought, he heard the door open again! Instead of the woman this time, it was a mountain of a man who walked over to his bed, his pitch black hair and oddly shaped beard drawing Jack's eyes to his face as he seemed be examining Jack as he lay before him, waiting a full five minutes before addressing him directly.

"So boy, how do you feel?"

 _Yeah, as if I have any fuckin' clue how I feel right now with all this shit happening to me…_

Putting his hand on his stomach and feeling the rhythmic ticking of his insides, Jack spoke.

"I….don't honestly know…."

Laughing, the man put his hand on Jack's stomach, his smile quickly turning to a frown as he seemed to be once more deep in thought….Feeling really, really weird with a strange man's hand on his stomach, Jack cleared his throat and spoke.

"Uh…..Why are you doing that? Is something wrong with me?"

Seemingly snapping out of whatever he had been thinking about, the man turned to Jack and spoke, his face returning to a serious expression.

"I'm not sure, boy….I can't sense a lick of conventional magic energy from you….and not just magic energy…..I can't sense any energy from you of any kind…! So strange….I can only sense intricate machinery inside of you, and a most…..unusual magic coming from your core….I can say with complete confidence that this magic does NOT belong in Fiore…."

Assuming Fiore was the name of this land, Jack began to wonder what exactly that meant when the man spoke again.

"And when you take your strange hair color into account….much like flare, I would surmise you are certainly not from anywhere around here, somewhere far, far away from Fiore…Somewhere we don't know about…This machinery is most…. _unusual."_

His hand once more feeling his stomach, Jack was getting ready to tell the creepy old guy off when the man pushed down on his solar plexus, and a sudden POP was heard again, and Jack suddenly found himself speaking against his will, his voice completely mechanical!

" _Gear one Activated…..Steam drivers booting up….coming online…..Steam drivers, online. Gear one operating at 100%."_

No sooner had he said those strange words than the man actually yelped and moved back, his eyes scanning Jack frantically as Jack's body began to waver and vibrate, his form now completely made up of steam! Looking down at his body as it wavered and dissipated, reforming when he willed it to, Jack suddenly found himself floating out the window! The old man frantically trying to grab onto him, Jack began focusing on turning this 'Gear one' off, his mind focusing on it as hard as he could….

 _COME ON, DAMN IT! GEAR ONE, DEACTIVATE!_

Suddenly, as if in response to his thought, his body solidified, but as he began to fall he realized that he was already outside, falling to the ground! Screaming in terror, as he began to fall the old man's hand grabbed onto his collar and hauled him into the room again, both men breathing heavily as they sat there, Jack thouroughly scared shitless after almost floating out the window while the old man seemed to be thinking about something…

"Hey boy, I think you have plenty of potential as a mage, with that Gear one you showed me…if you could control it, that is…."

Standing up, brushing himself off and offering his hand to Jacob, the old man grinned as he stood there, hand outstretched, and spoke again.

"What would you say to joining me and my guild? I'm always looking for more people to fill our numbers, and with that strange body of yours, and that foreign magic...You could certainly be most formidable, with the right training!"

Standing up, his legs shaking slightly as he did so, Jack thought about what the man had just said.

 _Join a magic guild..? If he can train me how to get used to this damn mechanical body, why not?"_

Nodding, Jack took hold of the man's large hand and shook it, smiling as he did so and spoke.

"Yeah…I think this place would work…besides, if you can teach me how to get used to this body, and maybe even use some magic or something….why should I refuse?"

Laughing as he shook his hand, the man nodded satisfactorily and turned to lead Jack out the door, turning back halfway as Jack spoke again.

"Hey old man, I never did get your name…What is it? And Does your guild have a name?"

Swearing he saw some sort of dark grin pass over his face, Jack cocked his head as he listened as the man stuck his thumb into his chest, chest swelling with pride as he spoke.

"My name? You can call me Ivan, boy….Ivar Dreyar….and this here's my guild, Raven Tail! Welcome to Raven tail, boy! Hahahahahaha!"

 **I'm happy with how the first chapter of my new fairy tail story turned out! As you may have already guessed, this'll be a story about a character I made, but don't worry, fairy tail will show up next eventually….Now that Jack has Joined fairy tail and met Ivan and Flare, will Ivan train him to be a warrior? Anyway, thanks for reading, I love writing these sorts of things!**


	2. Chapter 2: Home is what you make of it

**Chapter Two: Home is what you make of it**

Nearly a week had passed since Jack had been accepted into raven tail by the man who had saved his life, one Ivan Dreyar. Jacob had learned much over the past week, he had trained with Ivan to master his powers, he had met the other members of raven tail, and he was just in the middle of relaxing in his room, reading a book about the world and the various types of magic in it, trying to relax after a long day of training under master Ivan. Looking through the book he was reading, Jack never failed to be amazed at all the different types of magic that seemed to inhabit the world he had been accepted into…

"Wow, I never imagine that there were so many kinds of magic in this world! Maker Magic, Card magic, crash magic…..even this thing called 'Dragonslayer magic'!"

His face looking sad suddenly, Jack sighed.

"But still nothing about any magic that can turn your body to steam….was Ivan right? Am I truly not from this continent…?"

Running his hand through his hair absentmindedly, Jack sighed once more.

"I wonder….well, all I can do is try my best to survive and thrive here at raven tail….and with all these colorful people that inhabit this place, I'm sure I'll have no problem making some friends, at least…"

His mind drifting back to Flare, the girl who had been the first one he saw when he woke up here in raven tail's base, he smiled and went back to reading his book in silence, cheered up by such a pleasant memory. As he continued to read and the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes into hours, he began to notice the time and yawned, his white button up shirt fluttering around him as he stood up, stretching. As he stretched, he saw the guild mark he had received the day before on his left shoulder and smiled, the mark reminding him of his home.

"This mark….it'll always remind of my home….Raven tail…"

Looking around the room and yawning once more, Jack tapped his chin thoughtfully and suddenly snapped his fingers.

"Ah, I think a nice, long bath will do me good! That hot springs out behind the guild hall never fails to ease all my worries away….."

Grabbing his evening robe and a towel he had picked up in town, he opened up his door and walked down the stone halls of the guild to the hot springs, his pace brisk and his face smiling as he thought about the memories he had made, even in such a short time as a single week. Walking into the main guild hall and heading out back, he saw the various members of the guild hanging out around the bar and chatting, a few calling out to him and grinning.

"Yo, Jack! Nice hair, man!"

Waving his hand in the air dismissively, Jack nodded and continued his walk unimpeded.

"Yeah, yeah! Get to bed, you drunkard!"

Hearing the laughs of the men behind him as he stepped outside and into the crisp evening air, Jack grinned as he saw the bubbly waters of the hot springs and dropped his shirt to the rocks beside the water, slipping in and exhaling pleasantly as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes. As he laid there, eyes closed and head back, still grinning as the warm water seemed to make all the aches and pains caused by the machinery inside his body go away!

"Ahhhh…..I have no idea why this water makes the gears inside of me feel so damn good, but hell…"

Slipping down a bit further into the water, Jack grinned.

"….I ain't complainin'…when I'm sitting here…I can almost forget that I'm made of gears now…..a man with no memory, no idea of how his body got like this…hell, am I even a 'man' anymore? Do I even count as alive anymore….? Hah…..Dunno…."

Just as he was lost in thought, he heard a gruff voice beside him, accompanied by the sounds of someone getting into the water across from him. Opening his eyes he saw Nullpudding, his hunched form and blonde hair the same as ever as he grinned across at him, his purple skin still not as bright as Jack's purple hair. Nodding to him, Jack went back to his previous position, his eyes closed and leaned his head back as Nullpudding spoke to him.

"Hey Jack…."

Not even opening his eyes, Jack nodded.

"Hey, Nullpudding. How's things been?"

Hearing a grunt from across the springs, Nullpudding was silent for a while.

"Alright, I suppose. Those Fairy Tail fruitcakes almost destroyed another town…I swear, one of these days we'll finally crush them once and for all!"

Finally opening his eyes, but not raising his head Jack spoke, his voice filled with question and curiosity.

"Hey, Nullpudding….Why does everyone here hate this 'Fairy Tail' guild so damn much? It's almost all I hear anyone talk about around here, and since I have no memory I was just wondering…."

Scratching his massive chin, Nullpudding seemed to get visibly angry as he got more and more animated as he spoke, his hands clenched.

"Those…..bastards over at fairy are nothing but a bunch of pretentious assholes, yes sir….Always running around so happy go lucky and carefree….That ain't how the world works! Besides….The boss hates them with every fiber of his being, so that should be enough for us underlings, no matter what we think personally, right?"

Closing his eyes once more, Jack only grunted as he thought about what Nullpudding had said.

 _Yeah, I guess….But is that really how a guild should be? The Guildmaster rules everyone with an iron fist….?_

As he was deep in thought, Jack seemed to come to a decision and opened his mouth to speak, only to suddenly feel a pair of hands begin playing with his long purple hair, a soft and familiar voice sounding behind him.

"Having Doubts, Gearhead…?"

Startled, Jack leapt nearly out of the water and turned around.

"AHHHHH!"

As he calmed down and gathered his wits about him, he heard Nullpudding chuckling behind him as Jack looked up and saw Flare standing right above where Jack's head had been, her head cocked and that same creepy smile still on her face. Sighing, Jack moved back over to where he had been and laid his head back once more, looking up at flare as he spoke.

"Jesus, Flare…..You need to quit scaring me like that….and my name isn't GEARHEAD!"

Chuckling, she once again began fiddling with his hair as she spoke.

"Whatever…..You're a member of Raven tail now….Master Ivan's word is law, and we only follow his orders…..got it?"

Resigning himself(and his hair) to flare's strangely soft hands as she continued to play with his hair, He thought about her words and spoke.

"I guess. Say Flare, why the hell are you so obsessed with playing with my hair? It's kinda weird."

Feeling her hands stop for a moment, he heard her soft voice behind him, that same timid voice she used whenever she felt embarrassed or afraid.

"Y-You know…..My Hair is different too, you know…..I've never seen anyone else with hair as strange as mine….such a bright purple….so long….can your hair light itself on fire and grow like mine?"

Feeling her pulling his hair, Jack yelped and dashed across the pool, rubbing his head where she had pulled on it, his face frowning.

"No, of course not! And don't you dare light it on fire while I'm sleeping, either!"

As he said that, he swore she looked disappointed.

"Well, you aren't wrong, though….your hair marks you as someone not from around here, like me…..in that sense, we aren't so different I suppose….Only I have no idea where I come from….No idea if I even have family that's worried for me, or if I even have a place to return to…."

As an awkward silence descended upon the three of them, Jack suddenly felt Flare's hair patting him on the head softly, as if to reassure him as she spoke, her expression understanding.

"Don't worry, Gearhead…We'll find your home eventually, I swear….Master Ivan may seem like a tough boss, but aside from his interest/hate of fairy tail there isn't a thing in this world he cares about more than this guild. Given time, we'll find it…."

Feeling strangely Comforted by those words, Jack nodded as he heard another person walking out of the guild towards them. As they got closer, he recognized the person as none other than master Ivan, his built form and black beard as intimidating as ever as he looked at the three of them, Flare's hair still patting Jack on the head and Nullpudding still sighing in the corner, and smiled.

"Glad to see you're getting along here, Jack! Anyway, I'm just here to tell you that I'll be training you starting tomorrow, so report to the training room at nine AM sharp, got it? You're getting closer to being ready for combat, and I have plenty of missions that I'm sure you'd love to go on!"

As Everyone stood up and snapped to attention, Jack nodding to show he understood, Ivan snickered at Jack and Nullpudding as they stood up in the springs, buck naked with their hands saluting.

"Good to know...hahaha! Might wanna sit back down before Flare here sees those, boys…Be seeing you later!"

As Jacob and Nullpudding yelped and sat back down, the three went back to conversing late into the night before Jack suddenly got out and began to stretch, wrapping his towel around himself as he spoke.

"Well…I need to be off. With training tomorrow so early, I need plenty of rest….Being seeing you later, Flare…Nullpudding…."

As he bid them farewell, Flare's face still smiling that smile she always smiled and Nullpudding simply grunting, Jacob grinned to himself as he swung open the doors to the guild hall and began to walk back to his room, lost in thought.

 _You know….That creepy smile of hers doesn't seem so creepy anymore…..But she's still a little too good at scaring the shit out of me…_

Chuckling to himself as he arrived at his room and collapsed onto his bed, eyes staring at the ceiling, he hoped for a peaceful night as he drifted off to sleep….

He wouldn't get that peaceful night.

 **XXXXX**

 _Once again, Jack found himself floating in the same sea of gears, the various gears and levers ticking and grinding away endlessly just as they had been before. Looking around, Jack saw that the blue runes that he had seen spreading from the central spherical core now almost completely covering the gears around him, about half he would guess. Floating a little bit closer to the runes to try to see what they said, this time around they morphed into more words he could understand, as if they were learning as they spread!_

 _THIS UNIT IS THE OFFICIAL PROPERTY OF THE AGNOSTUS MANUFACTORUM, 7TH PIECE OF THE ASCENDANT MACHINE, UNIT DESIGNATION CLASSIFIED AS 'SELF-REPAIR MODULE'._

 _Beside the words he recognized from what he seen the last time he had been in this steampunk nightmare, he saw new words that were pulsing blue and dark blue, as if to signal a dire alert, words that gave him a sort of clue as to what had happened…_

 _THIS UNIT HAS UNDERGONE SEPERATION FROM THE MAIN CORE AND LANDED IN UNKNOWN ORGANIC LIFEFORM. UNIT HAS RESORTED TO PROTOCOL ALPHA EPSILON OMEGA 35B-A12, CODENAME 'CONVERSION PROTOCOL'…UNIT IS ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT DETECTED IN VICINITY AND INITIATE FORCEFUL CONVERSION OF UNKNOWN ORGANIC LIFEFORM TO SUITABLE REPLICA OF 'ASCENDANT MACHINE'….ESTIM…..ED….COMP….ETION…..53.56%...CPU…NO….MA….CH…..FO….ND…..DAT...BA...E…CONTI…ING…..CON…..ERSION._

 _As the rest of the words descended back into the strange language, Jack was completely dumbstruck from what he had read. Floating in place momentarily, Jacob was alone with his thoughts._

' _What does this mean? "Agnostus Manufactorum"…? What does that mean? "Self-Repair Module"…? Shit man, From the sounds of this, wherever I was before I was floating in the middle of the ocean with that metal in my stomach and head was near this 'Manufactorum', or something like that….Since the fragments embedded in me came from some special machine that was supposedly stationed there….this "Ascendant Machine"…..What does that mean? And from the looks of things and from the sound of what I just read, those fragments are trying to link up with each other and continue converting my body to machinery, I think. I read the word 'CPU' in there somewhere…..does it mean my brain, since that piece of the machine was lodged in there? Ah fuck, I got no idea. Wait, not AGAIIIIIIIIIINNNNN'!_

 _Just as he was finished with his thought, the gears once more began to shake and fall down into the infinite abyss, his mind and body falling into the abyss with them as he suddenly found himself waking up…._

 **XXXXX**

"Huh…?"

His eyes fluttering open slowly, Jack sat up and looked around his room, half expecting someone to be standing over his bed or something. Grinning to himself slightly, he rose from his bed and checked the time as he slipped into the only thing that he had that provided any sort of clue to where he had been before being in the ocean: An outfit that looked like nothing anyone else in the guild had ever seen, and it certainly didn't function like any sort of clothing that existed here in Fiore, according to master Ivan. The shirt was gray and short sleeved, but that was about where the similarities ended. Covering the shirt were the same softly-glowing blue runes that he had seen in his dreams, spiraling along all over the shirt as the black stripes that went vertical down the shirt giving it a unique look. The pants looked much the same, gray with black stripes, the same runes covering his pants that were on his shirt. Finally slipping into his pants as he finished putting his shirt on, he looked down at them and nodded appreciatively, seeing as how this was the first time he had word these since he had joined the guild.

"Not too shabby…..The only thing they're missing is some sort of 'Winter Outfit Mode'! Haha! Yea, right…"

Laughing to himself as he began to walk out his door to the training room, he suddenly felt the runes begin to pulse on his shirt, as if responding to his voice! As if it had heard his request, the shirt and pants began to glow and pulse, soon moving like liquid over his body until the light finally dimmed and he found he was wearing a heavy winter coat and pants! Freaked out, Jack began waving his arms wildly in panic.

"Fuck! Turn it off! Turn it off! Uh…Normal…Mode….?"

Once again glowing, Jack soon was back to wearing the same outfit he had put on only seconds earlier, something that only served to increase his utter confusion as to where he had come from.

"Seriously, where the hell did I come from, that I wore shit like this?"

Shaking his head to try and clear it, Jack walked out the door and began to stride down the hallway, his strides purposeful and powerful as he made his way to the training room. As he arrived at the door to the training room and went inside, he saw Master Ivan just inside looked out the window that was on the far side of the room, hands clasped behind his back as he seemed to be deep in thought. As the door shut behind him, Ivan seemed to snap out of his thoughts, turning around and looking at Jacob, his face looking strangely distant as he glanced at Jack's outfit, a weird look coming over him as he strode over Jack and spoke.

"Morning, Jack! Say, the runes on that outfit….."

Grabbing a handful of his shirt with seemingly no concern for the man inside, Ivan stared intently at Jack's shirt for nearly three minutes until finally, he let go and seemed to think again.

"You are slowly becoming a bigger and bigger mystery, my mechanical friend…You garb is perhaps the strangest thing I have seen in a long while, such is certain…."

Raising his eyebrow, Jack cocked his head in confusion.

"Why, sir?"

Looking back at his pupil, Ivan frowned.

"Here in Fiore, all magicians have something called Magic Containers, things which determine how much potential and power a person has at magic. While we do have something called a Second Origin, such things aren't usable right away….But getting to my point, You yourself lack such a container, even before these gears had taken over your body I could not sense any conventional magic like we know in Fiore in your body. To be more specific, you lack a container to store the magic here in the air, Jack. But despite that, everything about you seems to suggest you come from some sort of place far removed from this land, somewhere where magic is used through totally different means….But you are, without a doubt, from this world. In Addition to that, your clothes have just made the mystery even deeper….your clothes are certainly unlike anything here in Fiore because unlike our clothing items, your clothing seems to be woven with magic! And unlike the magic technology we have here which relies upon the users magic container, your clothing seems woven with it, the runes that are spread across its surface acting like an antenna, naturally drawing the magic in the air to it! Amazing! I would very much like to see where you come from, Jack my boy!"

Scratching his purple hair again, Jack was unsure how he should react to his master's excited words.

"Uhh…..I don't remember anything, so I don't know what you're talking about….sorry….."

Hearing his master laugh and pat his head in apology, Jack looked up into Ivan's grinning face.

"Sorry, my boy! This old man was just talking to himself, that's all! Now, come at me! Let's see how much better you've gotten since yesterday!"

Nodding as Ivan took a few steps back, Jack closed his eyes as he had learned to do a week ago, focusing on activating his inner power…Suddenly, a loud POP was heard from his chest, and Jack once again spoke in that same mechanical voice that he spoke in whenever he went into his combat mode!

" _Gear one Activated…..Steam drivers booting up….coming online…..Steam drivers, online. Gear one operating at 100%."_

His form now wavering, Jack grinned as he suddenly vanished into a cloud of smoke as Ivan lunged forward, his body turning literally into a cloud of steam and whirling through Ivan's body, re-forming into a human form on the other side just long enough for Jack to land a punch to his master's left kidney, his form wavering as a punch from Ivan went through his gaseous form! Grinning as he once more vanished into a steam cloud shooting around the room, Jack suddenly shot straight at Ivan, his steamy form rippling as he did so! Just as his cloud form began to pass through his master's body and he solidified it in an effort to punch him in the lungs _inside_ his body, Jack suddenly yelped as he felt his master's hand grab onto his and throw him across the room! Losing focus just long enough to turn back into a solid form and slam into the wall, Jack turned back into a cloud of steam just in time to feel a brutal overhead axe kick pass through his face and shatter the outer layer of the wall!

"That would've killed me!"

Hearing his master laugh as he circled around the room, Jack grinned inwardly as he suddenly had an idea.

"Sorry boy, but I have to make sure you aren't a weakling!"

Ignoring those words as he shot straight at Ivan, his steam form cloud clearly visible and circular, Jack turned his mind inward as he began to focus.

 _I've been too focused on retaining some form of coherence in this form….but steam has no coherence!_

His form suddenly exploding in every direction slowly filling the room with steam just before he made contact with his master, Ivan suddenly leapt back and began to scan the room as it began to get so cloudy he couldn't see, a smirk on his grin as he thought to himself.

 _The kid's learning…._

As Jack thought about the success of his new plan, he knew he had to get even more inventive if he would even stand a chance against Ivan, even when he was holding back like he was. Suddenly, Jack's voice seemed to come from every direction at once!

"Sorry master, but here, in this steam…I AM EVERYWHERE!"

Suddenly hearing grunts come from his master as he began to materialize fists and feet all around his master and began to have them punch and kick him from every direction, he felt immensely proud of himself.

"Give up yet, master? You can't use your magic, you know…."

Hearing only an annoyed grunt as his master was barely fending off his meager attacks, Jack suddenly materialized his entire body in front of his master, his steamy form appearing long enough for him to land a heavy front kick to Ivan's chest, sending him flying across the room! Before he could ever hit the ground, Jack suddenly dissipated and reformed behind his master, raising his fist just in time to send him crashing into the ground! Suddenly, Jack heard Ivan talking from the crater he was in.

"Very good, boy! This test is over, and you have passed with flying colors!"

The steam in the room dissipating as Jack turned off Gear One, Jack grinned happily as Ivan lead him out of the room and into the main guild hall, his voice proud as he stopped in front of a large board which had many Papers on it, each with different 'Rewards' and 'Tasks'.

"This is the Job board, Jack! Here you can take any job you think you can handle, and upon completion of the Job the client will pay you the reward…."

Suddenly putting his hand on Jack's shoulder and bringing him in closer, Ivan whispered into his ear.

"But right now, I've got a different job for you! As for you….You're going to infiltrate Fairy tail!"

 **And Chapter two is done! Sorry if it took a while, I'm working on my akame ga kill story too, not to mention college stuff. Anyway, I loved writing it, and I can safely say for sure that fairy tail is going to be in the next chapter, so look forward to that! Anyway, I'm really satisfied with how it turned out, but I always love hearing feedback, so keep those reviews coming guys! Be Seeing you!**


	3. Chapter 3: A Raven in a Fairy's Skin

**Chapter Three: A Raven in a Fairy's Skin**

Looking incredulous, Jack took a few steps back from Ivan in shock. Finally gathering his wits a few seconds later, Jack put his hand to his chin and began to think out loud.

"Infiltrate Fairy tail…..But what about my guild mark? I don't wanna get it removed Master Ivan, that would be worse than being kicked out of the guild!"

Scratching his chin as if this was the first time he thought of that, Ivan suddenly put his hand on Jack's shoulder and grinned, bending down and whispering into his ear.

"I got that, so I came up a solution…."

Looking at his master and raising an eyebrow, Jack listened as Ivan continued.

"I won't remove it, but I'll move it somewhere on your body where it won't be found…And there's no rule that states someone can't have more than one guild mark on their bodies…..so I'll just move it!"

Nodding as he thought about it, Jack grinned.

"Okay, but where did you have in mind?"

Going silent for a few seconds, Ivan leaned in closer, his voice a whisper.

"There's only one place where I can put it where it won't be found unless you want it to be found….You know…"

A stupid look on his face, Jack only cocked his head as Ivan sighed.

" _Your bait and tackle, boy! Your trouser snake! YOUR DICK!"_

Nodding as if he finally understood, Jack slammed his fist into his outstretched hand, his face set in stone as he spoke.

"Ah, yes! That would work, wouldn't it? A tad strange, I think, but I must admit that it definitely wouldn't be seen unless I trusted the person, at which point it wouldn't be an issue, or they were trying to rape me or something, and at that point they would be a criminal…..Yes…..it sounds good! Then I could that fairy tail emblem somewhere else!"

Drawing back and nodding, his hand glowing a soft purple, Ivan spoke to Jack as he put his hand on Jack's head.

"Good. I'll go ahead and move it then…."

Feeling a really strange tickling sensation as the guild mark slithered from his elbow down his stomach and finally coming to a rest on his dick, he shivered for a moment then composed himself, looking himself over and nodding satisfactorily.

"Okay…..So now that the guild mark is hidden, would you mind telling me how to get to fairy tail? I need directions since I've never left this guild hall or that town down there…."

Nodding as he led Jack towards the main entrance to the guild, Ivan began to speak as the two stepped outside, the crisp morning air still cool against Jack's skin as Ivan pointed due north, at the hill that rose on the other side of the valley below them where the town was.

"To get there in about two days, Just head due north out of town and cross that hill, where you'll find another town that you'll need to head due west from to get to Magnolia. Or if you like to get there in about one day, you can just brave the hills and valleys and head northeast from town to get there a bit faster, but without going through any towns or stopping for food and the like. It's up to you…."

As he turned back towards the guild and began to walk towards the doors, Ivan stopped a few seconds later, turning around and looking at Jack with a strange gleam in his eyes.

"Jacob….Don't fail me. Go there and earn their trust, join the guild and hang with them for a little while, but eventually I will send a message to you telling to come back to report your progress, so be ready for that. And don't forget…."

His eyes suddenly growing murderous and ice cold, his voice deadpan, Ivan spoke.

"They aren't your friends. Those fairy tail wizards are nothing but scum! Now go, and don't disappoint me…."

Nodding as he turned and began to head out, his white shirt fluttering in the wind and his baggy black pants whipping about crazily as he looked up at the sky, smiling as he only heard the wind and the soft ticking of his insides as he walked. As he arrived at the end of the wasteland that surrounded the guild hall, his feet finally touching grass and soil for the first time in five minutes he heard a soft rustle from the bushes behind the sign to his right. Turning to the bush and raising an eyebrow, he was about to call out when he saw Flare's head poke out from behind the sign, her whole body emerging from behind the sign moments later as she smiled nervously, fidgeting as she seemed to be struggling to say something.

"Hey, Flare. Something on your mind?"

Finally getting the nerve to speak, Flare held out a massive, thick tan cloak in her hand and spoke.

"H-Hey, Gearhead….I heard from the guys that Master Ivan had sent you on a mission, and I wanted to give you this before you left….."

Taking the thick cloak in his hand and looking it over, Jack grinned as he put on, instantly feeling himself warm up, and even stopped hearing the ticking sound coming from his insides. Whistling appreciatively, He held out his hand to Flare and grinned. As she shyly took it and shook it, Jack spoke.

"Gee, thanks Flare! It's super comfy, it insulates me from the elements, and even hides my ticking noises! It's awesome!"

Smiling a little wider, Flare fiddled with her hair as she looked down at the town, her hair blowing in the wind.

"N-No problem…..I bought it in town….anyway, I don't suppose Master told you about the train that runs through town and how you can take _that_ to magnolia?"

Raising his eyebrow, Jack shook his head negative.

"Tr-ain? Never heard of that…..No, he didn't….what is it?"

As silence descended between them for a moment, he was caught off guard as Flare laughed softly, her laughter warming him like he was sitting by a nice warm fire…Finally, she got a hold of herself and spoke.

"Hah….I forgot you don't have many memories….A train is basically a really fast way of getting around…It costs money, so Master doesn't like us wasting money to use it…."

Holding out her hand, Flare seemed to blush as she spoke as Jack saw some shiny round things glittering in her hand.

"This is some money left over from my last job….it'll get you a one way ticket to magnolia…..it'll get you there in about three hours, much faster than walking...It's all I can do to help you on your first mission."

Grinning as he put his hand on her shoulder, her skin strangely warm, he spoke.

"Don't sweat it, this is more than enough! I appreciate the information, the cloak and the money a lot, so thanks!"

Taking his hand off her shoulder and beginning to walk down into town, he turned his head back to her as he did so, grinning as he held his hand up in the air as he spoke some final parting words.

"See ya Flare! Take care of yourself, ok? I can't have the one person who has hair as strange as me to go and leave or something…!"

Seeing of her wave back at him and grinning a slightly less creepy grin, Jack felt a tinge of sadness as he watched her form fade into a tiny dot in his vision as he walked out of view of her and the guild.

 _This may the last time I see them in a while…..Glad I could say goodbye to her at least….._

Walking into town as he pulled his cloak's thick hood over his face, he followed the signs through town until he arrived at the 'Train Station', the food he had bought before arriving there wrapped up in his pack nicely as he walked up to the man behind a glass window, a bored expression on his face as he looked up at this strange man in a cloak before him and spoke.

"There's a 100 jewel fee to ride the next train, buddy. It'll be here any second, so you better pay up…"

Although he had no idea what these 'jewels' may be, he dug the money Flare had given him out of his pocket and plopped it on the counter, the man's thick and beefy hand reaching out and counting it.

"Okay, 100 jewels exact….You can go ahead and pass through these gates now, the train will be here shortly…"

Nodding underneath his hood, Jack passed through the gates to his left and sat down on a bench overlooking the tracks, his mind wandering as he waited for the train.

 _I wonder what Fairy tail will be like….Ivan said they were scum, but I have a feeling the old me would make his own judgments about people, rather than let others make his judgments for him….That's the kinda man I was, I think….._

Snapped from his thoughts as a high pitched whistle pierced through the air, a massive beast made of metal coming to a stop before him, his mouth was agape with awe as a man in a strange uniform stepped out of the cabin and looked around, his eyes resting upon Jack, the only man in the station, and sighed.

"Hey Buddy, you getting' on? I ain't got all day!"

Nodding hesitantly, Jack stepped up the steps of the train and into the passenger car, where he looked around at all the different people and gasped in awe, the Man's voice sounding behind him.

"Sorry buddy, we're a bit short on space here, so I'm gonna have to put you in an already half-full cabin…."

Following the man to a door that seemingly lead to a cabin, the man opened it and gestured inside, where a man and a woman were sitting, suddenly turning and looking at Jack as he gulped and stiffly walked in, sitting down beside the man as the Man at the door bowed and spoke, the door swinging shut.

"Have a safe trip, sir…"

As the door slammed shut and he looked at the man and the woman, the man turned to him and grinned, his poncho-cloak ruffling as he held out his hand.

"Hey there, stranger! I'm Alzack, and this here is Bisca! What's your name?"

Smiling as he felt relief that these people might be decent after all, Jack grinned and spoke.

"I'm Jack."

Nodding as Alzack turned back to face The woman he had called Bisca, He smiled as he spoke.

"So where are you headed, Jack? You don't look like you're from around here."

Once again running his hands through his bright purple hair that stuck out of his hooded cloak, Jack sighed.

 _No reason to tell them the whole truth._

"I'm headed to Magnolia…"

The two beside him perking up at the mention of Magnolia, The woman suddenly spoke, her interest piqued in this cloaked, purple haired stranger.

"Oh…? For what, if I may ask?"

Leaning his head back against the seat, Jack smiled and spoke, withholding some truths to cover up why he was coming there.

"Oh, I've only recently learned how to use magic, and I've heard about this guild called 'Fairy Tail' that resides there…I'd like to join, I guess…."

The two suddenly leaning forward and grinning, they each showed they had the fairy tail somewhere on their body! Clapping his back, Alzack laughed as he spoke.

"Always nice to see a newbie interested in joining! What a coincidence we met here, huh? Don't worry Kiddo, Fairy tail is a wonderful place where any mage can go to feel like family!"

His eyes narrowing under his hood, Jack seemed to make a mental note of that.

 _These two certainly don't seem like scum….they're quite nice, actually….if the rest of the guild is like this, I'm not sure why Ivan even hates them so much…._

Laughing under his hood, Jack spoke to the two.

"I'm glad to hear that! If you don't mind me asking as a new wizard, what magic might you guys use?"

As he said that, the two looked at each other and nodded, suddenly pulling out guns and twirling them in their hands, the woman holding a rifle as the man held two revolvers! Laughing as they put their guns back underneath their outfits, the woman spoke.

"We use gun magic, me and Alzack! We're the best marksmen around!"

Aiming her rifle as if to illustrate her point, she grinned as Alzack pushed her rifle down out of his face, speaking to Jack as he did so and turned to him.

"Hey man, speaking of magic... What kind of magic do _you_ use?"

A sudden and abrupt silence falling over the room, Alzack and Bisca shifted uncomfortably in their seats as Jack simply turned and looked out the window, his face hidden by his hood as he spoke, his voice naught but a whisper.

" _I couldn't explain it to you even if I wanted to….."_

Scratching their heads as they looked at each other, Alzack and Bisca only grinned awkwardly at each other as the three rode the rest of the train ride in silence, Jack not moving a muscle for the rest of the three hour journey. As the intercom buzzed and announced that the next stop was magnolia, Jack spoke, reaching the ears of Alzack and Bisca as they were almost out the door.

"Don't wait for me…I'll make my way there on my own time…"

Nodding, the two left the room and headed down the hallway, leaving Jack free to crack the window that was in the room and look out at the town behind it, smiling as he closed his eyes and focused.

 _Okay…Gear one….ACTIVATE!_

Feeling a heavy THUNK inside of him as Gear one activated, He managed to avoid speaking that it was on in that same mechanical voice as he looked at the cracked window. Lunging sideways at the window as if to body slam it, his body suddenly turned to steam as he hit the wall, slipping out the window and re-forming on the other side, his feet hitting the stone floor of the train station as he looked out at the town that stretched before him, stretching as he spoke to himself.

"Okay…I can activate gear one with no outward signs now….Good…..I'd say I have gear one all but mastered now…Now, I think I'll hit the town before heading to Fairy tail…It's about noon, I think…Might as well get so food-"

Suddenly remembered his body needed no nutrition, Jack wondered if he even _could_ eat.

 _Would eating ruin the gears inside my body? Ah hell….there has to be some organic parts left, right? And I would assume that my organic bits still need to be fed…._

Nodding as he made up his mind, Jack strode down the platform and into the town proper, his hood obscuring his face as his cloak whipped around him in the mid-afternoon wind, the numerous people on the streets alongside him making way for him as he walked absentmindedly down the streets looking for a food place. Looking around at the people who were walking all around him, Jack smiled to himself underneath his cloak and hood.

 _These people don't seem to different from the residents of the town back near Raven Tail's guild…._

Snapping out of his thoughts as he smelled food in the air, He turned just in time to see a cake shop to his right!

 _Not exactly what I wanted, but whatever…_

As he walked out an hour later, his stomach making even stranger noises than before but his stomach feeling 'full', Jack turned and looked down the street at the Fairy Tail guild hall, the massive structure imposing but not intimidating as he walked down the street and arrived at its gates. His cloak billowing around him as he pushed the doors open, he entered into a large open space, with a massive number of people sitting around on benches and tables, just conversing with each other! Silently activating gear one in case anyone tried anything, Jack looked around from underneath his cloak and came to a few decisions about the place.

 _Well, at first impression this place is actually much more inviting than that dreary nightmare that is Raven Tail's color scheme…..Still….It isn't the same as Raven tail….it's much more…Light hearted….right? Anyway, let's see who I should talk to about joining…_

Looking around until he saw a bar to the right of the room, a beautiful girl with long white hair and a small ponytail sticking straight up from her head, her body nothing to shake a stick at as Jack swallowed finally and walked over to her, taking a seat at the bar and speaking up.

"Is this…Fairy tail?"

Her gaze snapping out of what might have been a daydream, the girl smiled cutely and nodded, pouring a strange drink and sliding it over to him as she spoke.

"Sure is, stranger! Might I ask your business here?"

Looking around underneath his hood, Jack leaned forward and spoke, whispering for some reason, as if he was ashamed to join.

" _I…I'd like to join, if that's okay…."_

Her face suddenly changed and her smiled becoming even wider, she spoke cheerfully.

"Why didn't you say so? Hold on, let me get the master!"

Cupping her hands to her mouth and yelling across the noisy guild hall, her voice excellently pierced the veil of noisiness.

"GRAMPS! WE GOT SOMEONE INTERESTED JOINING!"

As the whole guild hall went silent at the words she spoke, Jack's mind began to race, thinking about what this 'master' of their could look like.

 _Oh man, what if he's huge? What if he makes Ivan looked small, or something? Oh man, what did I get myself into?_

Suddenly hearing a voice speaking to him from beside him, he turned and saw a tiny old man sitting on the bar beside him, drinking out of a mug and grinning as he looked at Jack, as if he was assessing him. Incredulous, Jack spoke.

" _You're_ the master here? A little old man?"

Seeing his face twitch, the girl behind the counter laughed nervously and spoke to the old man.

"Gramps, come on…He didn't mean anything by it…"

Now really confused, Jack looked around as the old man spoke to him, his face calming down.

"Fine. So, interested in joining, boy?"

Nodding vigorously, Jack smiled.

"Y-Yes, sir!"

The whole guild suddenly breaking out in laughter, the old man put his hand on Jack's shoulder, laughing as he spoke.

"None that formality, boy! Seriously, just call me 'Gramps! Or Makarov, if you want… Anyway, since you called me a 'little old man', I think I got the perfect thing to test your skills…"

As everyone looked at each other nervously, the girl behind the counter sighed as Gramps spoke to someone in the crowd beside them, his voice somehow booming around the room.

"ERZA! GOT A NEWBIE TO TEST OUT!"

As a woman with crimson hair stepped forward from the crowd, Jack swore he could hear the rest of the guild already writing his epitaph. Hearing Gramps laugh behind him, Jack got up from the barstool he was sitting on and faced the woman as she stopped in front of him, her silver armor flashing as she looked him up and down, frowning as if she couldn't get a read on him.

"This guy, gramps?"

Hearing Gramps yell an 'affirmative' from behind him, Jack turned around just in time to see the woman charging at him, a sword appearing out of nowhere as Gramps spoke from behind him, his voice jovial.

"Okay Newbie, Last for a minute against Erza, and I'll let you in! Just cause you pissed me off, you see…"

 _Gee, thanks…_

His thoughts cut short as he barely backstepped in time to avoid Erza's sword swinging at his head, he gritted his teeth underneath his cloak.

 _Guess I don't got a choice….Good thing I activated Gear one before I came in here….._

As Erza lunged forward and slashed her sword at him again, Jack closed his eyes in thought.

 _I can sense that I'm not going to stand a chance in a straight up fight against this girl….so I better not let her hit me!_

Rather than sidestep of step back, Jack stepped forward into her strike, her eyes flashing in surprise for a moment as she tried to adjust her strike so as to not cleave him in half! Grinning as he let the sword pass through his index finger, the finger turning to smoke for a moment before re-forming, he saw Erza's eyes widen as she seemed to be surprised at how his finger had vanished and reformed. Rather than stand and talk however, she simply summoned another sword and charged at him again!

 _Here we go…..Crunch time!_

Yelling with glee as he charged forward, just before Erza's sword touched his body his entire body exploded into a cloud of steam, swirling around her and reforming just behind her, letting him instantly let his elbow fall backwards in an attempt to elbow her in the back. Just before it hit however, she turned so fast he barely had time to return to gear one as the flat of her sword passed through his arm, his smoky fist brushing against her armor like a soft breeze as he grunted, his form exploded into steam again as he charged her again, his completely unorthodox fighting style catching her off guard as she struggled to keep up with his steam form. From across the room as he watched the fight, leaned forward and mouth agape, Makarov watched on with interest as this mere boy seemed to be challenging Erza, and S class mage! From behind him, he heard Mirajane, the woman at the bar, speak to him, her voice soft but astonished.

"What an amazing Mage…I've never seen such magic as that…magic that lets you turn into steam…truly strange…it seems Erza is struggling to adapt to such an evasive foe! What do you think, Master?"

As he leaned back and took a swig of his drink, Makarov grinned as he spoke.

"He'll make a fine addition to our Fairy Tail family! However….he isn't S class material…..he may be able to dodge Erza with his steam body, but she won't let him land any strikes…It seems he needs to reform to attack her, and she's figured that out. But still…"

His eyes narrowing, he went silent for a second as Mirajane raised an eyebrow and spoke.

"…He doesn't even register as being alive, right? I sensed it too. That man doesn't give off any signs of life, much less give off any magic presence…..how strange…."

Nodding solemnly as he looked back to the fight, he continued to watch as the one minute mark neared closer…..

 _Damn, this chick isn't bad….I can't touch her!_

Gritting his teeth as another of his punches failed to land on her, Jack once again began to swirl about Erza like a tornado in an attempt to find a weak spot. Sensing an opportunity, he rushed in and reformed inside of her strike as she swung her sword, his hand formed into an open palm as he swung it at her neck for a finishing blow! Just as he was about to chop her in the neck, He suddenly felt a great rush of wind as he suddenly found his hood fall back onto his cloak, revealing his bright purple hair and bushy light-purple eyebrows as her sword was pointed at his throat, her blade an inch from his skin! Hearing her humph in satisfaction, he grinned as he spoke.

"Not so fast, woman…"

Gasping as she felt his hand at her neck, the entire guild fell deathly quiet as they all stared at the two, both held each other dead to rights, but most of them, including Makarov, stared at Jack's brilliant long purple hair! Turning to Makarov and gasping, Mirajane spoke again, her long silver hair falling down around her shoulders.

"That hair…Where exactly is that man from? So bright…"

As Makarov turned to her and nodded, a huge grin across his face, he spoke.

"I got no idea, but that boy just tied Erza in a fight! Admittedly, he would lose because he lacks any weapons besides his fists, but the fact he still kept his cool under her attack speaks volumes of the boy's training…Fantastic!"

Hopping off the bar and striding over to Jack as Jack and Erza Grinned at each other and shook hands, Makarov waited until they finished.

"Nice Job, Man with the strange hair…Not many have tied me in such a manner…and never have I encountered such a strange magic…we simply must have a talk later about what it is, perhaps over cake!"

A strange look crossing her eyes at the mention of cake, Jack laughed and shook her hand as he spoke.

"Sounds good! You're damn good, Erza! You had never seen this mmagic before, but you still figured out enough about it to keep up with me, even as I swirled about you like a tornado! Not many could do that, you know…."

As the two finished talking, Makrov grinned as he spoke to Jack, the two Shaking hands as the rest of the guild looked on with interest, their expressions still astonished.

"Boy, what is your name?"

Grinning, Jack spoke.

"Jack, Sir. I don't remember the rest of it….or anything, really…."

His face falling sad suddenly, Makarov realized what he was implying and shook his head.

"Not to worry boy, now that you're a member of Fairy tail your one of us, so we'll help you make new memories! Now Jack, since you'll be one of us where'd you like your guild emblem?"

A single tear coming to his eye despite himself, Jack grinned and spoke as he pointed to his shoulder.

"Right shoulder, please!"

Somehow feeling genuine happiness as he watched the guild mark appear on his shoulder, Jack had to remind himself of his mission.

 _I'm here to spy on these people…Don't forget that, Jack._

Smiling as Makarov lifted his hand into the air, he listned to Gramps' voice boom out over the room.

"Today we welcome Jack into our midst, my fairies! Let's not let him feel left out, so treat him like family like you would each other, and we can figure out which team he'll be on later! For now, make him feel welcome!"

Surprised as the entire guild let out an earth rattling cheer, everyone in attendance suddenly rushed Jack as Makarov returned to the bar, all of the people around him excitedly talking to him and asking how he was so fast, or what his magic was. During it all, He could only think about his mission…

 _Am I really here to spy on these people? Are these people who Ivan called scum….?_

Shaking his head to clear his mind of such thoughts, he went back to talking to his newfound guildmates…

 **And there's chapter three, a little later than I would have liked, but here nonetheless! Sorry guys, my computer ended up crashing on me as I had just started this, so I kinda had to start over. Anyway, hope you liked it, and if you're a follower of the story and have an idea for what team Jack should join, I'd love to hear your ideas, cause I'm honestly at a loss right now. Anyway, thanks for reading, and I look forward to writing chapter four!**


	4. Chapter 4: A guild like none other

**Chapter Four: A guild unlike any other**

As his new guild mates crowded around him, all of them eager to talk to him, after about a minute of him being literally crushed between almost thirty different people Makarov finally broke them up, shooing them away as he looked out at the crowd before them.

"Give the man some breathing room, for cryin' out loud! Okay Jack, now that you're a member of fairy tail just ask anyone about how to make some money, and hopefully you can find a place to live around here! Anyway, welcome to the guild, I'm sure everyone is dying to meet you so go chat with them! If you need anything, just let me or someone else know! We're family now, so don't feel the need to hold anything back!"

Nodding as he watched gramps walk back to the bar and begin drinking again, he sighed as he looked out around the massive guild hall, the various people talking and chatting with each other as he smiled, thinking about how much different it was than what he was used to back in raven tail.

 _These people seem so happy…It's so much different than raven tail. I can't really say that I've been in a guild before without drawing attention to myself, so…_

His thoughts trailing off as he looked about the room and saw the job board, he moseyed over to it and was looking over the jobs when he heard Erza's voice from beside him.

"Jack, was it? Mind if I ask you some things?"

Looking at her, his eyebrow raised, Jack nodded hesitantly and motioned to lead the way.

"S-Sure. What about?"

Following her up to the top of the guild that looked out on the town, once she was sure they were alone she turned to him and spoke, her tone not quite casual but clearly cautious.

"About our fight. I accept that you're in the guild now, and that makes you one of us, but that magic was so unlike anything I've ever seen…What exactly was that? I know of smoke magic like Wakaba has, but magic that lets you turn your entire body into steam…it's unheard of! If I'm being too nosy, just say so, ok? My curiosity is simply getting the better of me, and I need to know."

Looking out over the town as he flexed his hand, feeling the gears that lay just under his skin continue ticking away like always, he sighed and turned to her, his bright purple hair blowing in the wind as he spoke.

"No no, don't worry about it. I know that I must be certainly very strange to you and all those people down there, so it's only fair I explain myself to my new family, right?"

Her expression clearly saying she was happy he wasn't offended, he slowly dropped his massive cloak to the ground and turned to her, the ticking sound of the gears in his chest filling the air as he talked.

"Hear that ticking noise?"

As she nodded, he continued.

"That's me."

Her expression clearly showing she had absolutely no idea what he was talking about, he frowned and look of into the distance as he kept on speaking.

"You see, I woke up about a week ago in the ocean, shards of metal in my stomach and my head, my memories of my entire life just… _gone._ I was rescued by a village fisherman not long after who removed the metal pieces from my body and head, but wherever I came from before being in the ocean must have been a strange place, because…"

Suddenly finding himself unable to continue, he realized he had never told anyone but Flare and Ivan about his body!

 _Don't be an idiot! Erza doesn't look like the kind of person who would judge me because I'm not human anymore!_

Sighing, he suddenly heard Erza speak, her voice soft.

"It's fine. Take your time…"

Nodding and smiling appreciatively, he cleared his throat and continued to speak.

"…because the metal that had been inside of me began to take over my body, and in the end it ended up turning me completely into a machine…You get it now? This ticking sound is the gears inside of my body ticking away! I'm not even human anymore, Erza! I'm just a robot wearing a human's skin who just so happened to get some strange smoke powers in the process! I'm not even sure what I can do even _is_ magic, to be honest…"

Closing his eyes for what he thought would be words of hate, or words of disgust, he suddenly opened his eyes when Erza only laughed and clapped him on the back, a loud CLANK sounding around the rooftop as she spoke.

"Is that all? You idiot…Human or not, magic or no magic…You're a member of this guild now! To us, it's all the same! We're still family at the end of the day, aren't we? Oh, I appreciate the explanation, by the way, I really do."

Finding no words would come to his mouth, he only grinned like a moron as he stood there on the roof of the guild, turning his eyes to the vast lake that extended behind the guild as he finally found the words to speak.

"Hah…Thanks. But don't get complacent, 'cause I'll be wanting a rematch before long! I'll beat you eventually! A stalemate just goes against my pride, you know!"

Laughing as she waved her hand, she looked out to the sea with him as she spoke.

"Sure, sure…Geez…You're just like Natsu, except he never ties me…"

Chuckling as she looked out over the lake, Jack turned around only to see almost twenty heads poking out from the door to the roof! His eyes narrowing, he tapped Erza on the shoulder, and when she turned around she laughed and began to walk over to the door.

"Thanks for the explanation, Jack…Looks like you got plenty more people who want to talk to you, so I'll let you go…Take care, fairy!"

Waving at her as she flung open the door and threw all twenty of the people who were hiding there out onto the roof in annoyance and walked down the stairs, Jack sighed nervously as they all got up and slowly walked over to him. Scratching his head awkwardly, he sighed as he spoke softly.

"Guess you guys heard that, huh? Well, you sure you're okay with a guild mate who isn't really even hum-OOMPH!"

Grunting as a boy with bright red-pink hair clobbered him over the head and locked his arm around Jack's head, the boy laughed loudly as he ruffled Jack's hair and spoke, his voice jovial and happy.

"Cut that pathetic act, man! You're a member of Fairy Tail now, so act like it and quit puttin' yourself down like that, it ain't cool!"

Hearing the other members gather around him and speak their agreement, Jack grinned as he nodded, his spirit lifted as he looked around at the people before him and smiled. Seeing all their smiling faces staring back at him, he sighed and turned back to the lake behind the guild, wiping a tear from his eye as he did so. Suddenly feeling another hand on his shoulder, he turned and saw a boy with no shirt on grinning back at him.

"Uhh, do you have a shirt?"

Looking down at his chest and yelling, the boy seemed to ignore Jack's words and spoke.

"Forget that! Natsu's right you know, you're one of us now! So just stick with me kid, I'll teach you the ropes…"

Suddenly hearing the boy from earlier grab the boy to his right and get up in his face, he heard the two go at it behind him and turned around just in time to see the two in each other's faces, their faces contorted in sneers.

"Trying to one up me with the newbie, Gray?!"

The other boy who Natsu called Gray sneering and pushing himself up against Natsu, he spoke.

"As if I would need to one up a stupid hothead like you!"

"What'd you say to me, freezer boy?!"

"Shut it, fire breath!"

"You first, ice face!"

As the two continued to go at each other, their red and blue auras almost painting the air around them, a man with purple hair like his but not quite as bright stepped beside him, putting a hand on his shoulder as they watched Natsu and Gray go at each other.

"Don't mind them, Newbie…Those two go at each other all the time. I'm Macao, and if you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me or my buddy Wakaba here, okay?"

Just as he was about to nod and smile back, Jack suddenly felt a blast of pains shoot through his entire body, his vision going… _blue?_

 _Why does my entire body feel cold…?_

Falling to one knee as he felt the gears in his body begin to freeze over and slow down, he heard the people around him yell out in surprise and kneel around him, their voices growing more and more distant as Jack fell into the depths of unconsciousness…

 **XXXXX**

 _As he looked around, Jack suddenly found himself back in the gears that he had been in twice before, but this time it all looked…different. The gears were no longer mere gears, they were now glowing with strange light, the runes that had covered about fifty percent of them last time he had entered this place now covered every inch of every gear in his body! Floating closer to one to see if there were more words that he could read, he grinned as he realized he could make out the letters that had been missing last time he was here!_

 _THIS UNIT IS THE OFFICIAL PROPERTY OF THE AGNOSTUS MANUFACTORUM, 7TH PIECE OF THE ASCENDANT MACHINE, UNIT DESIGNATION CLASSIFIED AS 'SELF-REPAIR MODULE'._

 _THIS UNIT HAS UNDERGONE SEPERATION FROM THE MAIN CORE AND LANDED IN UNKNOWN ORGANIC LIFEFORM. UNIT HAS RESORTED TO PROTOCOL ALPHA EPSILON OMEGA 35B-A12, CODENAME 'CONVERSION PROTOCOL'…UNIT IS ATTEMPTING TO ESTABLISH CONTACT WITH CENTRAL PROCESSING UNIT DETECTED IN VICINITY AND INITIATE FORCEFUL CONVERSION OF UNKNOWN ORGANIC LIFEFORM TO SUITABLE REPLICA OF 'ASCENDANT MACHINE'. ESTIMATED TIME UNTIL COMPLETION 53.56%. AS TO THE CPU, NO MATCH WAS FOUND IN THE DATABASE, CONTINUING CONVERSION OF ORGANIC LIFEFORM TO COPY OF ASCENDANT MACHINE._

 _Beneath the words he could now make out, a new set of words had appeared in the same glowing runes as before._

 _CONVERSION…COMPLETE. THIS ORGANIC LIFEFORM IS NOW FULLY CONVERTED, BUT UNCORRECTABLE ERRORS IN LIFEFORM'S PHYSIOLOGY HAVE BEEN FOUND AND CANNOT BE FIXED BY ANY MEANS KNOWN TO THIS UNIT. AS SUCH, THIS UNIT IS SWITCHING ITSELF INTO STANDBY MODE AND DIVERTING ALL PROCESSES TO THE BETTERMENT AND CONTINUED SURVIVAL OF THE NOW SEMI-ORGANIC HOST._

 _Raising an eyebrow, Jack thought about what that could mean._

 _It's done, then? I'm fully a machine? But judging from this, it couldn't figure out how to convert the essential bits of me, like my brain and heart, without ruining the 'functionality' of my body, so it decided to simply support me and devote all of its effort to helping me survive…interesting. Wait, I see more text over here…_

 _Looking to his right, Jack gasped when he saw a vast ocean of gears before him, all of them frozen over by large clumps of ice, flashing runes visible underneath the nearest icy gear._

 _WARNING! WARNING! COLD-BASED MAGICAL ENERGY DETECTED IN VICINITY! VICINITY OF COLD SEVERELY HAMPERING THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THIS UNIT'S ABILITY TO FUNCTION! ALL SYSTEMS….SHUTTING…..DOWN…BACKUP POWER….OFFLINE. ACTIVATING….FINAL DEFENSE MECHANISM KNOWN AS…. 'GEAR TWO'… IN ORDER TO FACILITATE PROTECTION OF VITAL AREAS._

 _Realizing that he had more than one gear, Jack was about to wonder how he could activate it when he heard his own, mechanical voice speaking from somewhere above him in the darkness._

" _GEAR TWO…..BOOTING UP. BUNKER DRIVERS LOADING…BUNKER DRIVERS COMING ONLINE….BUNKER DRIVERS, ONLINE. GEAR TWO OPERATING AT 100% CAPACITY. INITATING EMERGENCY DEFENSE MECHANISMS…"_

 _Watching the sea of gears before him suddenly begin to churn and kick into motion, the ice on the various gears breaking off and falling into the darkness, Jack watched in awe as the gears began to move around and form a massive, interlocking wall of gears before him, the gears that had been frozen now churning at full speed! As the gargantuan gear wall before him began to form an even more sophisticated looking, and even more intimidating literal bunker of gears, he suddenly felt himself falling back into reality…_

 _NOT AGAIN!_

Suddenly falling back into reality, Jack's eyes suddenly flew open and he felt his body twisting and churning around, the gears in his body churning and forming that massive, interlocking defensive wall under his skin! Barely having time to recognize a couple of his guild mates at his bedside before he began to convulse again, he managed to see Gray standing beside him and before he could stop himself he began to yell at him, his voice mechanical and loud, his eyes going blood red as he spoke.

" _WARNING! WARNING! COLD-BASED MAGICAL ENERGY DETECTED IN VICINITY! VICINITY OF COLD SEVERELY HAMPERING THE FUNCTIONALITY OF THIS UNIT'S ABILITY TO FUNCTION! GEAR TWO ONLY ABLE TO BLOCK OUT 78% OF THE COLD ENERGY!"_

As he stood there, Gray suddenly realized that he was the one Jack was yelling about, and pointed at himself and spoke as everyone confusedly looked at him.

"What, me? You mean me, right? I'm guessing so, since you said 'Cold based magical energy'…"

As everyone stood there, Makarov suddenly snapped his fingers as he stood beside Jack and turned to everyone else.

"I got it! Jacob told you he was made of machinery, right Erza? That he was nothing but metal and gears?"

As Erza nodded and suddenly caught on to what Gramps was saying, she slammed her fist onto her palm and grinned.

"Yes, of course! I know exactly what's going on!"

Suddenly grabbing gray and tossing him out of the room by his jacket, they all gasped as almost immediately Jack stopped convulsing and eased back into the bed, his eyes and body returning to normal!

As Gramps grinned and looked to the fairy tail members who were gathered around the bed, he turned to Natsu and spoke to him, gesturing to Jack as he did.

"Natsu, use your flames to keep him warm! Don't hold back, make sure to keep him warm, but not melting!"

Looking confused, Natsu seemed to hesitate.

"Wait, really? Like, attack him-OUCH!"

As Erza smacked him in the back of the head, she spoke to him too.

"No you idiot, just use your flames to keep Gray's natural cold aura away from his body! Gray's cold magic is what's doing this to him! It's slowing down the gears in his body!"

Scratching his red-pink hair, Natsu grinned as he summoned a ball of flames in his hand as he spoke.

"Not sure I understand all that, but I did understand that Jack here needs to be warm to survive! Leave it to me!"

Shoving his flaming hands right above Jack's body, Erza brought Gray back into the room and set him down beside Natsu, Gray looking slightly miffed as he looked down at Jack.

"So your tellin' me that Jack here has some sort of mega-weakness to cold, and my ice make magic was slowing down his insides just by being around him? Man, I'm sorry Jack…"

As everyone looked down at Jack expectantly, he suddenly opened his eyes slowly and looked around the room, his voice's mechanical quality still there as he spoke softly.

" _Gear two…Adapting to Cold Based Magic energy…Gear two successfully adapted to aura of Cold-based magic user in vicinity enough to guarantee the survival of this organic…Gear two now shutting down…."_

As Erza grabbed Natsu's hand and put out his flame, Jack seemed to come to and look around the room, feeling his chest and looking up at Makarov and coughing as he spoke.

"Man…You guys look like hell…haha…"

An annoyed look crossing Erza's face, she suddenly smacked Jack in the forehead, cursing as another loud CLANG suddenly rang out across the room. As everybody laughed, Gray seemed to relax and put his hand on Jack's shoulder, his voice somber and serious.

"Listen, man…I'm sorry about that…I didn't mean to-"

As he rambled on, Jack laughed weakly and sat up in the bed, waving his hand and silencing Gray as he patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't sweat it, man…It really wasn't your fault, y'know? You can't really help your aura just happened to weaken me like that, can you? Besides, it seems like whatever this gear two is let me adapt enough to survive around you, so no hard feelings!"

Grinning as Gray helped him out of the infirmary bed and helped him walk out into the guild hall, Jack looked around and managed to walk over to Makarov, upon reaching him he began to speak.

"Say, Gramps…"

Turning to Jack, Gramps raised an eyebrow and continued to drink.

"Mmmm?"

Sighing, Jack continued on.

"Where would I live around here?"

Setting down his mug, gramps looked out at the job board and thought for a moment before speaking up to answer his question.

"Well, basically any place you can afford I suppose…But to that, I think you'd need money…Probably a lot of it…haha!"

Sighing, Jack stood up once more and stretched, turning to gramps and grinning as he walked away.

"Gotcha. So, I guess I can figure something out then…"

Nodding as he went back to drinking, Jack was looking at the Job board when he suddenly heard a girls voice from beside him.

"Um…Excuse me!"

Turning to his left and seeing a girl with bright blue hair and an orange dress standing there, he raised an eyebrow and spoke, his bright purple hair blowing as he turned.

"Yes?"

The girl seemed to be slightly nervous as she tried to speak, finally simply half-yelling at him.

"W-Would you mind letting me examine you? I hear that you're not really human, and that you're a machine, and that being near gray made you go into a seizure, and that you're –"

Holding up a hand as the woman began to speak so fast it made his head spin, he laughed and spoke to her.

"Whoa, there! Slow down, and maybe I can understand you, okay? Can we start with introductions?"

Yelping as if she hadn't thought of that, the girl proudly offered her hand and spoke as Jack took it and shook it.

"I'm Levy Mcgarden, at your service!"

Nodding back at her and half smiling, Jack spoke.

"I'm Jack. Don't know the rest…"

Letting go of his hand and putting on a pair of glasses, Levy seemed to stare at him for a prolonged amount of time before finally looking up and speaking to him.

"I usually only really go for reading books, but if you're really a machine like you say you are, I'd love to inspect you and get a closer look at what you're made of!"

 _Why do I feel in danger right about now?_

Laughing nervously and backing away as Levy leaned in closer, Jack spoke.

"Y-Yeah…Maybe later, ok? I'm kinda looking for a job right now so I can at least get a place to stay for the night…"

Looking slightly depressed as he turned and looked back at the Job board, as he stood there and scanned the board for anything that looked like he could get it done it a relatively short amount of time, he suddenly felt Natsu's hand on his shoulder and his ever cheerful voice as he spoke to him, his flying cat he called _happy_ (which still weirded him out) floating beside him as he spoke.

"Listen man, if you're looking for a job I'm going to head out for a job I got out in this coastal town, wanna tag along? I could use the company of a strong guy like you, y'know!"

Looking at him and nodding, Jack smiled as he shook Natsu's hand and spoke.

"Sounds good, and it sounds like a good opportunity for me to get some actual on the job experience with a real member of fairy tail!"

Saluting beside his head, happy spoke.

"Aye, sir!"

Grinning from ear to ear, Natsu nodded and laughed as he spoke and walked off.

"Good to know! Be here early tomorrow, cause we'll be taking the train!"

Hearing him cringe at the word train, Jack watched him walk out the doors of the guild and into the nighttime sky, suddenly realizing he was about the only other person in the guild hall! Turning around and see Mirajane still behind the counter of the bar, he called across the guild hall to her.

"Hey, Mirajane! Where did everyone go?!"

Turning to him and smiling, she yelled back at him.

"They went home! It's almost midnight, you know!"

 _Wait, really?_

Suddenly looking around the guild hall, Jack sighed as he realized he had absolutely nowhere to go for the night! Just as he was desperately thinking about where he could go for the night, he heard Mirajane call to him from across the guild hall, and when he looked over at her he saw she was about to leave!

"I'm going home now, so see you tomorrow!"

Calling back to her that he would, Jack sighed as he meandered out the door was well, his face sullen as he walked out the door of the guild and into the courtyard, where he looked around and saw a nice, comfortable patch of grass to his right.

"Better than nothing, I guess…"

Sitting down beside the door to the guild hall, Jack put his arms around his legs and rested his head on his knees and was about to fall asleep when he heard a rustling in front of him! Opening his eyes, he saw a paper cutout of a person before him, and he suddenly heard Ivan's voice coming from the paper person!

"Jack? Jack?! How goes the infiltration?"

Sighing, Jack put his head back on his knees as he spoke.

"Good, I guess…I'm in the guild, if that's what you were wondering. I haven't gotten a house yet or gone on a job, but I think I've earned the trust of the people In the guild. I gotta say though, I don't understand why you think-"

Ivans voice suddenly cutting him off right there, Ivan angrily spoke to him.

"Shut your mouth! Continue your infiltration and I'll be back soon for an update, and you BETTER have progress to show me!"

As the paper person flew off into the night, Jack sighed and let his eyes drift shut, feeling sleep coming onto him as he murmured to himself.

"Dick. These guys…aren't…so bad…"

As he fell asleep on the grass in front of the guild hall, a mysterious figure that had been standing right above Jack suddenly vanished into the night, the two beady eyes that had been staring at him narrowing as they flew off with the rest of the mysterious person into the night…

 **Well guys, there's chapter four! I'm really happy with all the interaction he got with the different members of the guild here, I think I did a pretty bang up job introducing almost everyone important, and most importantly, capturing the essence of friendship that permeates throughout fairy tail. So who might that mysterious figure have been? Did they overhear his conversation with Ivan? Next Chapter will be about fairy tail again, and hopefully be a little bit longer since this one was more of an intro chapter to line up what's going to come next, and get Jack introduced to the people of the guild. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you in chapter five!**


	5. Chapter 5: A Job and a Celestial wizard

**Chapter Five: Poverty, A job, and a Celestial Wizard**

Not long after falling asleep, Jack felt himself falling into another dream just like he had been doing seemingly every night since he had been rescued by that fisherman…

 _As he floated once more among the endless gears that seemed to represent his insides, Jack noticed that the ice that had been knocked off earlier was gone, the gears endlessly chugging away and without noise as the magic runes that have fully covered the gears before him even more present, the gears now almost literally glowing blue! Floating further into the vast sea of gears that stretched out before him, he skimmed over the runes and ignored the ones he had already read the nights before, and stopped when he saw a new section of runes pulsing, the cool blue light making him feel warm as he read what it said._

" _This unit has established contact with the CPU unit detected in vicinity and is currently working to determine position of origin…..WARNING! Unable to locate point of origin, directional unit damaged or missing! Gear two now fully integrated into the system, and this unit has successfully adapted to cold based magical aura to ensure the survival of the organic housing this unit. Due to this unit linking up with nearby CPU, processes have been sped up by a margin of 43%, making both gears more effective and decreasing the strain on the organic when such gears are activated. Until further notice, this unit will devote all down time to locating the position where this unit and the organic originated, but due to lack of a directional unit in the CPU such a process may take some time…In addition, the ability to switch between gears is now available mid-combat, but the energy required to do so is immense….Processes also ongoing to establish reliable contact with organic housing this unit other than contact through REM sleep cycles…."_

 _As he floated there, Jack realized what the machine was saying as it said it had linked up with the 'Nearby CPU'._

" _So it linked up with the shard in my brain, huh? And from the sounds of things, it's getting smarter and smarter the more those runes spread, and it knows now that we're not from this place, and it's trying to find where we came from so I can go back…Interesting. I guess my combat effectiveness is also increased, but whatever, I'm not too interested in that. What I'm really concerned about is this thing is supposedly the reason I've been dreaming these dreams ever since this thing took over my body! That means it's showing me this because it knows I need to know this, which means it must be at least semi-intelligent! Amazing! Wherever I came from before must be a truly amazing place if It could make such a machine as these pieces fit into…."_

 _As he floated there still, Jack only sighed as the gears around him began to fall into the black abyss below him, and as he began to fall he only crossed his arms and sighed._

" _Guess it's time to wake up…"_

As he came back to reality and found his head still resting on his knees, he heard a voice speaking to him from in front of him as he lay there, head on his knees.

"Jack, is this where you slept last night, my boy?"

Looking up and seeing Gramps standing before him, his arms crossed and his face frowning as he looked at him, Jack nodded somberly.

"Yea….I couldn't exactly see where else to sleep, so I decided to crash right here. Was that not okay, cause if not I'm sorry, I just…"

Feeling gramps put his hand on his Shoulder, Jack looked at gramps in surprise as he looked serious as he spoke.

"Boy, we're all family here…So don't ever feel like you can't ask someone for help, okay? I know that no matter who you asked, if they could help a fellow guildmate somehow they wouldn't hesitate to do so in a minute! So if this happens again, just ask someone here if you could stay with them until you find a house, you idiot! Anyway, come on in, I think Natsu's going to be here soon to go on that job you guys were talking about."

Nodding as he stood up and followed gramps into the guild hall, as he walked in and stopped for a minute, looking around as he did so, he eventually found himself in the grassy area in the back of the guild as he thought to himself.

"Not a bad time to train, I suppose…"

Clenching his fist as he concentrated, he extended his senses into himself to find the switch to flip into gear two, much like he normally did with gear one, and after a minute of searching he found it and flipped it, hearing the soft mechanical voice in his head as he opened his eyes.

 _Gear two…..booting up. Bunker drives loading….Bunker drivers….coming online…..Bunker Drivers….online. Gear two up and running at 100% capacity and Bunker drivers running at full tilt._

Opening his eyes as he felt the gears in his body begin to interlock and weave themselves into a veritable wall of metal and magic, he felt his body harden considerably to all forms of attack, and he began to practice his punches and kicks, his moves making him sweat as he did them.

"Huh! Hah! Yah! Aah!"

Lunging and lashing out with his kicks and punches, training his body to move when it was heavier and slower like it was in Gear two, he heard someone exit the guild hall and speak as he was training, a voice that made him grin and turn.

"Training, huh? Well, I do believe we promised each other a rematch, Jack my friend…You down for a do over of our previous match? If I remember correctly, we tied!"

Turning to Erza as she walked out into the grassy area, Jack grinned and nodded as she readied his swords.

"Hey, sounds good to me Erza, I couldn't really ask for a better opponent! If you don't mind, I'll be using my new gear against you today, I'd love to try it out if you don't care."

Seeing her smile and nod, Jack readied his fists as she spoke a few final words.

"Do as you wish! Either way, I know I shall get a worthy challenge!"

Laughing as he slammed his fists together and heard the sound of metal colliding echo over the guild and the lake behind them, he instantly was in fighting mode as Erza charged at him, her swords dancing as Jack began to move, thinking to himself as he did.

 _Bunker two seems to be the opposite of Gear one, since it makes me heavier and slower, but probably increasing my defense and stuff by a lot….Let's see what it can do!_

As she swung her swords at his neck, Instead of dodging like he would have if he was in gear one instead he decided to trust in his gear, deciding to lunge forward and catching her off guard as her sword slammed into his neck and simply bounced off! Stepping inside her guard and lashing out with a straight kick aimed at her chestplate, she easily danced out of the way of his slow attack and looked at him, grinning.

"Interesting…This new mode of yours seems to increase defense by leaps and bounds, but at the cost of you speed…In that case, I simply need to dodge your attacks!"

Seeing her begin to glow, he only watched as he heard her summon a new armor from her stock.

"Requip! Heavens wheel armor!"

Once the light faded and he could see her again, he only raised an eyebrow as about twenty swords floating around her and two were held in her hand, her smirk irking his nerves as she spoke.

"Normally I use this for multiple opponents, but I think I need to attack you with all I have to break that defense like a twig!"

 _Yea, let's see you try!_

Raising his hand and motioning for her to bring it, he grinned as she suddenly shot all twenty swords at him, raising his fist and slamming it into the ground with all his might, causing a sound like a thunderclap peal over the land, generating a massive gust of wind as dirt and soil was thrown into the air all around them. Feeling the first of the swords hit his sides and bounce off, he dodged around the next one and managed to grab it out of the air and use it to slam the next couple out of the air, wincing as about half of the remaining twelve swords slammed full on into his chest but only managing to make him take a step back as the dust settled and he saw Erza looking at him with respect.

"Impressive, you used the ground as smokescreen to obscure my shots! But it looks like about six made it through!"

Seeing the six identical swords sticking out of his chest, their blades only about an inch into his skin, he felt them merely piercing his skin, so he pulled them out one by one and tossed them aside with a grunt, looking at Erza with annoyance as she summoned more swords and flew into the air as he lunged at her.

Looking up into the sky as she sent more swords his way, Jack directed all his considerable power into his legs and crouched down, leaping a massive Fifty feet into the air with nothing but his immense power and managing to send Erza crashing back into the ground with a punishing overhead Hammerfist. As he fell back to earth, his trajectory sending him directly on top of the groggy Erza, he yelled a mighty cry as he raised his leg and landed on her with the force of a boulder at terminal velocity, the force of his mechanical leg slamming into her armor sending another thunderclap rolling over the town! As the dust cleared from his massive blow, he leapt back a few feet and watched as Erza stood up, her armor dented slightly as she looked with a considerable degree of surprise.

"Such power! It seems even flight cannot allow me to escape from your strength…But I'm not done yet!"

As Erza began to requip again, Jack snuck a look to his side as he heard a voice from the direction of the guild hall.

"YEAH! Get em', Erza! This is awesome!"

Looking over and seeing Natsu, Grey, Gramps, Mirajane, and a few others gathering around their fight and spectating, he only sighed as he heard Erza'a voice from in front of him.

"Requip! Black wing armor!"

Once the light cleared and he saw her wearing an armor that was pitch black with equally black wings, he watched on as she pointed another sword at him and flew into the air, her voice reaching his ears as she charged straight at him!

"This armor should give me enough power to do some damage!"

Attempting to dodge out of the way, he found himself too slow as he felt her sword dig a large gash into his shoulder, but to his surprise he didn't feel any pain as she circled around for another attack. Seeing her coming, at the last minute Jack did a spin and aimed a gargantuan roundhouse at the charging Erza's head in an attempt to dodge her strike, and as she saw it and tried to dodge out of the way she grunted as she found herself going too fast to dodge! Just barely managing to turn slightly so Jack's powerhouse of a roundhouse kick slammed into her side with the force of a cannon blast, a loud BOOM echoing around them as Erza was sent flying sideways, using her armor to recover much faster than her expected, charging at him before he had recovered from the roundhouse and swinging her sword at the same wounded spot on his shoulder as his body began to heal itself. Seeing the world seem to move in slow motion, Jack tried to push off with the one foot he had on the ground to twist out of the way, but just as he began to move he felt Erza's sword dig into the same cut on his right shoulder, and suddenly a horrible sound like metal grating over metal resounded around the plains and the guild hall, making everyone including himself and Erza hold their ears as her sword passed clean through his arm! Seeing his arm fall to the ground beside him as everyone seemed to freeze, Erza instantly landed and looked at his arm, her face serious as she spoke.

"Forgive me, It seems I got to engrossed in our fight! This is bad…"

Hearing everyone gasp as they looked at the hole where his arm used to be, he looked at it and saw the same gears he had seen many times in his dreams sticking out from the hole, the runes on them pulsing and steam billowing from the hole as Levy seemed to race over to him. Grabbing his stump and putting on her glasses as she stared at the runic writing on the gears, she read through them frantically as Jack spoke against his will.

" _Separation of limb confirmed, bunker protocol engaging and executing rapid repair algorithms…"_

Yelping and retreating a few steps as the hole where his arm used to be began to billow smoke and emit strange noises, his arms suddenly and rapidly melted down into a pile of gears that snaked along the ground like liquid, running up his side and covering the hole up, his arm appearing seconds later, full healed!

Flexing his arm as everyone stared at him in astonishment, Jack muttered under his breath as he examined his arm.

"Guess Gear two specializes in defense and healing, then…"

As Erza returned to the armor she usually wore, Levy began to speak as she put her glasses away.

"Jack….Your insides…..Those gears inside your body are covered in magical runes the likes of which I've never even seen! I could only make out a few words since it was a completely new language, but it reminded me of a really old language I read once…"

As everyone seemed to get interested and gathered around Levy, Gramps put his hand to his chin as Levy continued.

"I read a few words during the few seconds I looked at them, but they didn't really make much sense to me, I'll admit. I could read the words "Manufactorum", "Island", and "Lost", but just from those I'm assuming that wherever you came from must be and island just like I read, but lost probably refers to how you've lost your memories, or you way…And Manufactorum…I don't even know what to think of that, it doesn't make any sense to me."

As everyone stood around thinking about levy's words, Erza only seemed to be inspecting Jack's body, causing him to leap back and yelp as she poked him a few times, nodding satisfactorily as she did so.

"Your body is certainly durable, isn't it…? Well, I would say I won this match, but seeing as how you repaired your arm I can't really say that I won, so I think the only option left is to declare this match a tie. Looks like we're evenly matched, huh?"

Nodding as he rubbed his shoulder once more, Jack turned to Natsu and spoke to him as everyone else was still silent.

"Hey Natsu, we still going on that job today?"

As he said that, Natsu looked at him and shook his head negative, his face drooping.

"Nope. Whoever posted that job retracted it for some reason…"

Sighing, Jack followed everyone back into the guild as he walked over to the Job board and looked it over for any potential job that he could take, and was in the process of deciding when he heard Natsu's voice coming from beside him. As he turned to the voice, he saw Natsu standing there holding a job flyer and grinning as he spoke.

"Hey, I found one that may be interesting! We're supposed to go to a port town a ways away, but the jobs easy and the pays good, not to mention who knows what we might find there while we're at it?"

Turning to Natsu and nodding as he looked over the flyer, he grinned and spoke to him.

"Yea, this won't be that bad! Heck yea, let's go right now!"

As the duo charged outside in a storm, both of them hyped to go on the job as Natsu's flying cat happy flew out to follow them, Gramps only shook his head and grinned as he looked out the door after them.

"Damn kids…Well, let's hope they don't destroy the entire town this time…"

 **XXXXX**

As Jack and Natsu rode on the train to the port town where the job was located, Jack looked across at Natsu in the seat across from him, looking dead, and grinned.

"Not a fan of trains, Natsu?"

Hearing only a pained groan, Natsus voice was heard a while later.

"Not really…a fan…..of any transportation."  
Turning his head to the window and watching the scenery fly by as the train zipped across the landscape to their destination, the two fairy tail wizards rode along in silence for a while until Jack coughed and got up, stretching as he did so and moved to the door.

"I'm going to take a walk. Take care, buddy…"

Hearing only a moan, Jack took it as a response and left the cabin they had been in, walking down the hallways of the train and thinking to himself as he did so, letting himself be absorbed in his thoughts as he walked.

 _These people aren't as bad as Ivan said they were, and I've been here for a few days, but I can still say with certainty that these people treat me as one of their own. As harsh as it sounds, If it wasn't for the people I still cared about back in Raven tail things might be different right now….Maybe I wouldn't feel so bad about liking Fairy tail then….But still, I'm a little worried that someone's going to see my Raven tail guild mark…Even though its down there and I doubt anyone is going to look at my naked crotch anytime soon, I still have a bad feeling about it, and I can't tell why….Oh well. If I was Gray, it might be problem since he's always throwing off his clothes, but luckily I don't do that, so I'm safe. Anyway, for now I'll-Huh?_

Snapping out of his thoughts as he bumped into someone, he rubbed his head absentmindedly and pulled his cloak tighter around himself as he looked up to see who he had bumped into, a gasp escaping both him and the person in front of him as hey made eye contact with each other.

"Flare!"

"Gearhead…"

Both of them speaking each other's names as they saw each other, Jack hurriedly looked around the hallway they were in, and seeing Natsu nowhere in sight, he turned to flare and suddenly grinned widely and hugged her tightly, his happiness at seeing someone from Raven tail making him just suddenly hug her before he could think! Realizing that he was hugging her a few seconds after doing so, his face suddenly flushed and he stood back from her, bowing his head apologetically.

"Sorry! I was just happy to see someone I knew, so I kinda acted without thinking! Sorry about that!"

Seeing her face shy away as she blushed, Flare shook her head and turned to him a few seconds later.

"It's fine…I can understand. Everyone back at the guild misses you…but master Ivan doesn't seem too happy with you for some reason. Are you not making much progress infiltrating those fools at fairy tail…?"

Feeling strangely angry at hearing someone diss Fairy Tail like that, he calmed his anger and spoke to Flare once more.

"I guess not, but Flare…The more I stay there the more I realize they aren't nearly as bad as we might think they are! And before you get mad at me, answer me this:"

Seeing her expression turn neutral, he knew he had to speak carefully now.

"Do you really, truly hate them? Or do you hate them because Ivan told you too, and you know no better? Can you truly say you hate them because you yourself made that decision? Please, answer me that before you call me soft or whatever."

Seeing her about to get mad, then seeing her face return to normal and begin to think, her expression one of deep thought, she finally looked confused and spoke, her voice soft and hesitant.

"I-….I can't say, I really can't…I do hate them, and I have ever since I joined Raven Tail, but whether that was because I hate them myself or because Master Ivan told me to, I couldn't say…I've never really been with them like you are right now, so…"

Feeling himself sigh with relief in his head, he put his hand on flare shoulder and looked into her eyes as he spoke, her eyes widening in surprise as he did so.

"That's all I wanted, thank you Flare. I need to get back to my partner back in my cabin since I'm on my first job, but I want to leave you with this…"

Smiling, he continued speaking.

"The way things are going, I'm only going to get more attached to this guild, and I don't mind that! I've already kind of realized they aren't anything like Ivan makes them out to be, and I think that You….you would like it there…So maybe one day, sometime in the future, You could even come and Join them like I have. Think about it, okay?"

Seeing her nod in complete and utter surprise as he turned, waved to her, then bid her goodbye, he didn't see her blush softly as she smiled and began to walk away, muttering softly to herself.

"Do I really hate Fairy tail…..?"

As he entered his cabin and saw Natsu, still slumped over and looking like he had died and gone to heaven, his skin white, Jack sat down and rested his head to his chin as he looked out the window and thought to himself about Flare, Ivan, and Raven tail.

 _She doesn't seem so bad, she almost seems like she's not even sure herself about a lot of things…I have a nagging suspicion that Ivan's brainwashed her, or something like that….She's way too confused when I ask her about what she thinks….I worry about her. I don't want to betray Ivan, even if he can be a colossal ass sometimes…He saved my life, after all….Anyway, I need to go to the bathroom._

Getting up once more and walking down the hallways of the train until he got to the bathroom, he did his business and was washing his hands when the he felt a strange itching sensation on his back. Out of curiosity after itching it for a while to no avail, he lifted up his cloak Flare had given him and the shirt underneath and turned to the mirror and looked at his back only to gasp when he saw his raven tail logo there on his back!

 _How the hell did that happen? This is NOT good! If it's on my back, that means I wont be able to even take of my cloak during the times I'm around people, just to be sure they don't see it….Seriously, this isn't good…Why is this even happening?! Guild marks shouldn't be able to move…_

Just as he was thinking about how this could happen, he suddenly lifted up his shirt in an attempt to see if his Fairy tail mark had moved, but sighed in relief as he saw it still rooted firmly upon his shoulder where he had gotten it.

 _Thank god. If that had moved, I'm not sure how I could explain that to everyone in the guild…._

After returning to the cabin and passing the time by looking out the window and thinking about his situation, the train soon came to a stop and the two wizards made their way off the train and into the portside town, Natsu and happy talking happily amongst each other as Jack simply tagged along, just happy to be along with a real fairy tail wizard on a job. As the trio walked along the streets and made their way to the location of the job, they spent the next few hours finishing up with the request that had told them to go find something the job giver had lost, and once they had finished they began to walk through the town looking for something interesting to do. Coincidentally, as they walked through the town they heard some people talking about something that made Natsu and happy's ears perk up.

" _Did you hear? The Salamander's in town!"_

" _Ooh, really?"_

Hearing these words, Natsu and happy turned to each other grinning and spoke.

"Salamander? That could only be Igneel, right happy?"

Happy nodded back and flew into the air momentarily.

"Aye, sir! What else would a fire dragon be called, right?"

Running after the duo as they rushed further into the town, Jack could only sigh as he eventually caught up with them in the middle of a group of women who seemed to be infatuated with the man in the middle. Natsu and happy poked their way into the circle, and upon seeing the man everyone was calling 'salamander', they merely sighed and walked straight out of the circle, much to the disbelief of the guy in the middle as all the girls got enraged.

"Ladies, calm down! It isn't as if he _meant_ to insult me. Now now, I think that will be quite enough."

As all the ladies swooned and agreed with him, Jack only sighed and tuned out the conversation as he looked at the woman who was standing back where the group had been, her face one of utter shock and disbelief as she seemed to be staring at Jack's shoulder as his cloak whipped around in the wind.

"Are you…Are you a fairy tail wizard?"

Nodding absentmindedly, he turned to her and spoke as Natsu continued to deal with the man and his cadre of swooning women.

"Huh? Oh, yea. Don't mind that guy over there, he's a little thick sometimes, haha!"

Looking past him as she stared at Natsu as the man shot into the sky on his flames, Natsu came walking over lazily and spoke to Jack, completely ignoring the girl beside him as he did so.

"What was that guys' damage? Geez…..Yo, you ready to go man? I wanna get back and get my money for this!"

As Jack was about to respond, the girl seemed to think of something and grinned as she spoke.

"Yea, he was a piece of work alright…Hey, thanks for all you did!"

And the next thing Jack knew, the four of them were all sitting in a diner not too far away, Natsu and happy eating so fast and so loud part of their food actually turned into projectiles, getting flung all over the diner as Natsu spoke, food in his mouth.

"Fanks for da foo!"

"Yup, yup."

Chuckling as he watched the girl sigh as food splattered on her, Jack watched as she sighed and spoke.

"Yeah yeah, no problem at all, just calm down with the food!"

Shifting in her seat as she seemed to be thinking, Jack took a bite of some food he managed to snatch off Happy's plate and nibbled on it as the girl spoke about what had happened.

"Geez, you guys saved me! That guy was using Charm magic, I think….That was outlawed by the council years ago, but when you guys came in you broke the spell on me. And now, since I know about It, it won't work on me since knowing about the magic renders it ineffective!"

Although what she was saying made perfect sense to Jack, Natsu and happy seemed to be mostly paying attention to the food in front of them as they mumbled something in between bites.

"Dat maigs zense."

Turning to the girl and offering his hand, Jack smiled softly as he introduced himself.

"Like I said, Natsu and happy here are great guys(and cat), but when it comes to food they're something else! I'm Jack, his partner for the day. You are…."

Shaking her hand, the girl looked at him and his purple hair sticking off his head and smiled cutely.

"I'm lucy, and I'm kind of a wizard myself, you know!"

Natsu and happy seemed to hear this, and Natsu spoke a few words before Jack could.

"Oh, really?"

Nodding, the girl began to go into detail about how she wanted to join a guild, and described them for seemingly no reason, and when that was all over she seemed to realize something and turned to Natsu and Happy.

"You guys seemed to be thinking for someone."

Happy nodded and spoke.

"Aye, Igneel."

Natsu finished his meal and nodded, getting serious.

"We heard there was a salamander in this town, So we came but it turned out to be someone else."

"We could see he wasn't a real salamander just by looking."

"I was sure it would be Igneel."

As Natsu and happy spoke to each other, Jack heard lucy sigh and speak softly as Happy finished speaking.

"See he wasn't a real salamander just by looking? What do you mean, he was just a man…"

Natsu looked confused as he looked at her and cocked his head.

"Huh? We're not looking for a man."

Now it was lucy's turn to be confused as she looked at Natsu then back to Happy.

"Igneel is a real dragon."

Her eyes going wide as dinner plates, Lucy looked absolutely shocked as she yelled back in shock and disbelief.

"There's no way you'd find a dragon in a human town!"

Natsu and happy seemed absolutely stricken with defeat at hearing this, and lucy only spoke louder.

"And don't make faces like you never thought of that!"

Just as she finished speaking and sighed, she laid some money on the table and got up as she spoke.

"I need to leave now, so take you time and finish your food."

As she got up to leave and waved goodbye to Natsu, Happy and Jack, Natsu and happy got up suddenly and prostrated themselves on the ground and spoke as they bowed right there on the floor.

"Thank you so much for the food!"

"Thanks"

Making an embarrassed face, Lucy cringed and spoke in an embarrassed tone of voice.

"ARGH! Stop that, you're embarrassing me!"

As she left and the two went back to finishing their meal, Jack sat there with his head resting on his head as he watched her leave through the window.

 _What a nice girl. Pretty, too…_

Before he knew it, Natsu had finished his meal and had gotten up, turning to Jack as Happy got up too and spoke.

"Hey man, let's head out! I'm so full I could burst, so let's take a walk around for while."

Nodding as he got up too, He followed Natsu and happy out the diner and walked around the town for a while, eventually finding themselves on a hill overlooking the town as the sun set, the three of them resting on the railing and looking at the ship that was headed out of the harbor as they overheard two women talking beside them.

"Oh, that must be Salamander's yacht! Man, I wished I would have gotten an invite to his party…"

Looking confused, the girl beside the one who had just spoke asked a question.

"Salamander?"

Turning to her friend, the first girl grinned happily as she explained.

"Don't you know him? He's that amazing wizard who came to town! You know, that famous Fairy tail wizard?"

Instantly turning to each other with dead serious looks on their faces, Natsu, Happy and Jack looked at each other deadly serious as they all turned to look at the ship, Natsu gagging a little as they all looked out at it as he murmured.

"Fairy tail….."

As the girls walked off, Natsu turned to Jack and looked more serious than he had ever been to his eyes and spoke.

"Jack, we need to go investigate that boat. I won't let someone slander the name of Fairy tail like that! I don't think he's who he says he is!"

Feeling strangely defensive of the guild too, Jack ignored the Raven Tail guild mark on his back as it seemed to burn painfully as he spoke.

"Yeah, I'm with you. I haven't been here very long, but I won't let a guy who may be an imposter slander our guild name like that…Gramps wouldn't let us hear the end of it otherwise…"

Nodding to each other as he finished speaking, Happy suddenly flew into the air and lifted Natsu up, floating out to the boat as Natsu turned back to Jack and grinned.

"I'm gonna fly over there on happy, so see you when you get there!"

Laughing as he and happy darted into the distance to the yacht, Jack grinned as he closed his eyes momentarily and flipped his internal switch as he felt Gear two kick into high action. Crouching and sending all his power to his legs, he suddenly shot high into the air with all his might! Traveling a good seventy five feet into the air and covering about a hundred feet in one jump, Jack came down on a nearby rooftop and wasted no time rolling into a straight sprint along the top of the roof until he reached the end of it, at which point he leapt high into the air once more, his cloak billowing around him as he continued to dash and leap along the rooftops, his massive and loud footsteps echoing around the town as he made his way to the boat.

 _This is still better than turning into steam and floating over there…Not sure if I could hold my form in such high winds yet…And I want to get used to this gear._

Leaping along the rooftops with all his might, soon enough Jack arrived at the harbor just in time to see Natsu and happy crash through the deck of the ship, and about a minute later as Jack was debating how to get to the ship he saw Happy fly out of the ship with Lucy in his arms!

 _Wait, so is Natsu on that boat? With his motion sickness?!_

Gathering all of his strength in his legs in an attempt to leap the hundred meters to the ship, just as he was about leap he heard a sound like a doorbell and suddenly a woman with a pot appeared above the water, lucy floating beside her as a gargantuan wave suddenly shot the ship towards the shore! Knowing that the ship would hit the harbor and obliterate it, as fast as he could Jack transferred all the strength to his arms, locking the gears in it into place to further increase his strength as his outstretched arms seemed to be awaiting the oncoming ship as he planted his feet into the ground so hard they shattered the stone of the harbor! With his legs firmly planted a foot into the stone, just as the ship was about to crash ashore it hit Jack's outstretched arms and a massive BANG that could probably have been heard all the way back in magnolia shot over the land, a visible shockwave passing overheard a microsecond later as Jack was pushed back, his legs being pushed back despite being encased up to his ankles in concrete! As he continued to be pushed back, his arms began to creak and groan, and after sliding about twenty feet backwards he finally brought the ship to a stop a microsecond before his arms snapped in almost eight places each from the strain of stopping an entire yacht! Rubbing his arms absentmindedly, Jack grunted as whirrs and ticking were heard as his arms righted themselves in one swift motion and clicked back into place. As he took a few steps back cautiously, he saw Lucy wash up on shore and walk over to him as sounds of fighting were heard from within the ship. As they looked up to the ship they saw a column of fire erupt out of it and shoot into the sky! Looking at each other, Lucy and Jack sighed and smiled.

"Probably Natsu."

Lucy nodded and smiled with stars in her eyes as she looked up at the ship.

"Yeah…so this is what fairy tail wizards are like…Awesome…"

As Natsu and happy leapt off the ship just as the soldiers arrived, Natsu suddenly grabbed lucy and began running in the opposite direction as Jack hurriedly followed behind, hearing Natsu's words as Lucy asked why he was taking her too.

"You said you wanted to be a fairy tail wizard, right? Well, come on!"

Seeing her smile happily as the four of them raced out of town, Jack deactivated Gear two as they began to head back the guild…

 **XXXXX**

After they had gotten back to the guild, Natsu had given Jack his share of the job money and gone off to introduce lucy to everyone. As for Jack, he almost went out into town to try and find a house with the 100,000 jewels he had gotten from the job, wanting to distance himself from the guild for a while for a reason he couldn't quite lay his finger on. As he walked down the streets of Magnolia with his cloak billowing around him, he thought about various things.

 _Every time I see that guild hall, I just feel sick to my stomach…I can't bear to think how I'm there to spy on them, and all those nice and awesome people…I hate it. Those people aren't idiots, aren't fools, they aren't anything like anyone says they are…they all care about each other and strive to better themselves as they walk down their paths side by side, working together to help each other through hard times and good ones, and it's truly a wonderful thing. That guild is a treasure, and I feel vile just thinking about how what I'm supposed to be doing there. How could I spy on people like Elfman, Mirajane, Erza, Levy, or Gramps? I…I actually care about them! I don't deserve to be one of them, I realize this now…_

As he was thinking about his situation, he eventually stumbled upon a Black painted, small wooden building just big enough for one person not too far outside of town that had a sign out front of it:

 **FOR SALE BY OWNER**

 **100000 JEWELS**

 **For more info, please talk to the man now standing beside you.**

 _Huh?_

Turning to his right, Jack yelped as a man with a sad expression in a sharp suit spoke to him.

"You interested in this place? I know it may seem dirt cheap to buy, but I just can't handle it. It's just within the borders of the town I know, but it's bad for my health to live in such a house! If you want it, just give me the money and I'll give you the deed now!"

Thinking only for a second before handing the man his bag of exactly 100 thousand jewels, the man looked happy and handed him a piece of paper, then immediately began to run off into the distance.

"Thanks, buddy! It's your problem now!"

Walking up the steps to the old wooden door, Jack swung it open and looked around what he came to realize what the only room in the house: A living room with a small kitchen and a bed just big enough for one person in the back corner. Walking across the living room and out the back door into the back yard, Jack suddenly yelped as he came face to face with a massive Vulcan, a creature that looked at him with anger as it yelled.

"This my house! You be going now!"

 _There's one of these here? I read about these at the guild library…Guess I'd better send him packing…_

After sending the Vulcan crying back into the forest, Jack soon saw the backyard and looked it over, nodding with satisfaction as he did so. There were a few trees and the grass wasn't all that bad, and there was even a natural hot springs in the back! Turning around and walking back to the living room, he hung his cloak on the single, crooked hook beside the battered wooden door and collapsed back onto the musty old bed, sighing.

 _I'll stay here for the night…I don't want to go back to the guild tonight…_

After resting for a moment, Jack walked out to the front porch and used a nearby discarded sign and carved _Jack's house_ into it roughly, then stabbed it into the yard outside his house. Nodding absently as he turned back to the house, he sighed again.

 _Guess I'll take a bath later, I think it's safe here…If someone knocks, I can hide my raven tail mark if I need to…_

As the dusk turned to nighttime, at about 10PM Jack decided to try out the hot springs, so he took off his clothes and walked into the backyard, stepping into the hot springs and sighing happily as he felt the gears in his body shiver as they seemed to be enjoying this too. As he lounged in the water, he looked down at his muscle-bound chest and ran a finger along it, frowning as he felt the gears under his skin. As he stood up and began to stretch, he heard a loud knocking at his door. Not sure if he should get it or not, he decided to ignore it and turned back to the hot springs, still standing as he massaged his shoulder and examined the fairy tail mark on his shoulder.

 _Guess the mark on my back hasn't moved, then._

As he was doing this, he didn't hear the door ease open and the person who had been knocking until they began walking across the living room loudly, right towards the back yard! Barely having time to turn his head and look behind him at the door to his house, he cursed softly as he saw Erza standing there, her eyes firmly locked on the Raven Tail mark on his back!

"Shit."

 **Well here's chapter five, a whole lot later than I wanted to get it out! I'm really sorry for the long wait, but this month my college classes are ball-bustingly hard, so I can't find much time to work on it. Anyway, now that lucy's in the guild I'll probably go into the lullaby arc soon, but obviously the pressing issue is what Erza will do now that she's seen Jack's Raven tail mark, the mark of a dark guild! What will she do, hmmm? Thanks for reading, and I enjoy writing it!**


	6. Chapter 6: The unreachable dream

**Chapter six: The unreachable dream**

Sighing as Erza stood there, her eyes firmly locked on his Raven tail mark, Jack listened to her as she talked, her voice calm but deadly serious.

"Jack. I recognize that guild mark…that's from Raven Tail, a dark guild! Care to explain?"

Chuckling as he clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the sky, his face looked sad as he spoke.

"No, not really. Sorry Erza, but I can't tell you anything about that…I may not love that asshole of a guild master, but there's at least one person I care about there, so I can't really betray them…"

Sensing her hostile stance lessen a bit, her voice took on a somewhat softer tone as she spoke to him once more after hearing him say what he had just said.

"Jack…"

Looking back up at the sky as he thought about what he should do, he heard Erza's voice from behind him, once again firm and commanding as he heard her begin to step towards him.

"Nonetheless Jack, I'll be taking you in to see the master now…Traitors need to be dealt with by the guild master, you know."

Laughing at the word 'traitor', Jack's body made ticking noises as he spoke softly, his voice filled with what Erza thought was pain as he spoke.

"Traitor, huh? Fitting title for me, I guess…But you know, Erza...I came to Fairy tail because I was ordered to spy on you guys, but I never even once regretted any of the time I spent there, I never regretted meeting of you, you all seemed so… _bright._ Here I am, a being who only knew darkness since I awoke in the ocean, only knew the casual relationships I had with my guildmates and the hatred that had infected them all towards this guild, and then I met all of you, shining brightly like a collection of wonderful, shining stars…it's a wonderful sight, but it all seemed so unreachable to someone like me, y'know? You were all so warm, you all welcomed me with no questions as to where I came from or who I was, you just accepted me into your precious family, like it was natural…I'm jealous. But I think…"

Smiling sadly as a solitary tear streamed down his right cheek, Erza raised the pommel of her sword to incapacitate Jack as he wiped the tear from his cheek and spoke in a soft tone as he stared at the starry nighttime sky, just loud enough so that Erza could hear him.

"But I think it's time for this unreachable dream of mine to come to an end…Guess reality's been waiting for me to wake up."

Then everything went white as Erza slammed her sword pommel into his mechanical head, sending him spiraling into unconsciousness as his last thoughts drifted back to Flare, Raven tail, and the new guild he had grown to love known as Faiy tail…

 **XXXXX**

 **The next day, somewhere below the guild hall at Fairy Tail**

"Ugh…"

As Jack slowly came to his senses, he soon looked up and found himself in a small room, a room that as he looked around made him think it was a little too cozy for someone like him. He was laying on a bed that was meant for any normal person to sleep on in a room that had nice wood flooring, a table and even a kitchen! Not even bothering to get up, Jack simply looked at his shoulder and was surprised when he saw the fairy tail mark still there!

"Guess they haven't gotten around to punishing the traitor yet…"

Sighing as he rolled over in his bed and curled up into a ball, Jack simply activated First gear and let himself become a cloud of steam, reserving himself to hovering as a fog cloud on the floor as he waited for someone to come and punish him. Alone in his thoughts, he began to think to himself.

 _I knew this was coming…It's only right they're mad about it, I have been lying to them this whole time. I don't expect to come out of this alive, so when they walk through that door and tell me they've decided to kill me for spying on them I won't even resist. A fitting end for a man who never had an identity of his own in the first place, I think._

As he hovered in a cloud in the corner, the minutes turned into more minutes and finally into hours, and once three hours had gone by he heard the door to his room open up but he simply ignored it, waiting to hear the words he had been preparing himself for this whole time. But to his surprise, he heard a voice he hadn't expected to here speak to him from behind him, soft and calming.

"Jack...come over here and sit down beside me, please."

Without really knowing why himself, he dejectedly drifted over to where Mirajane sat, her long white hair resting behind her as she smiled at him as he drifted over to her in his steam form and solidified beside her, his head hung in shame as he averted his gaze so as not to meet her eyes.

"What? Finally come to a decision about what to do with the traitor, huh?"

Shaking her head negative, she only smiled her same smile and spoke to him, her voice soothing his nerves.

"Everyone upstairs is still talking about that, but I wanted to come down here and see for myself and ask you some things before I made any judgements about you, which is something I think everyone needs to do if they're arguing about you."

Looking at her for an instant, he quickly looked back away from her and spoke, his tone of voice lightening a little.

"Oh, really? What a nice person you are…Ask your questions, then…I'll answer them."

Nodding to herself as she seemed to be thinking about something, she soon spoke and asked him something he hadn't been expecting to hear.

"Can I see your Raven Tail guild mark?"

Sighing, he let his massive cloak fall off of him and raised his shirt, revealing his guild mark for her to look at. Wincing as her cold fingers touched the guild mark on his back, after a few minutes of touching it she took her hands away then put her fingers on his Fairy tail mark, feeling it for a second and spoke to him, almost forcing him to look at her as she did so.

"That other mark doesn't feel anything like your Fairy tail mark does, you know…I can tell. I could only sense pain and hatred coming from that Raven Tail mark, but I could also sense that you cared for someone there. But contrary to what everyone up there might be thinking, I could sense nothing but elation and happiness from your fairy tail mark, but also some regret, and that tells me everything, Jack."

Grabbing his chin and making him look into her entrancing eyes, Mirajane spoke to him in a serious yet comforting tone.

"That tells me you loved every second of being here, loved being here and loved everyone you met. It also tells me you hated the fact that you had to spy on us, and I can tell it's eating you up inside. So let me ask you…"

Looking deep into his eyes, Mirajane asked him a question he knew he couldn't give a lie to.

"Do you hate us?"

Hesitating for almost an entire minute, he soon felt tears welling up in his eyes, and he knew he was about to cry. Finally, the tears streamed like great waterfalls down his face as he broke down into tears right before Mirajane, his voice punctuated with sniffles as he cried with all his might.

"Of course not! How…How could I hate you guys?! You guys have everything here, you love each other, you move forward together, you laugh together, you cry together, everyone here supports each other so well, and loves and is loved without remorse or restraint! How could I even think of hating you guys, huh?! In that guild, everyone was simply there to make money, there to not feel alone in their hatred of this guild, it was a place of hatred and lies! And to a guy like me, who has no memory, no knowledge of my life before, nothing to call my own and no one to call my friends, no one to stand beside and no one to support me when I fall, you guys are the world to me! You all are so beautiful, so bright, this guild is like a sun, so bright and righteous that it blinds me, and It only makes me hate myself even more for being sent here to spy on you guys! How can I call myself a Fairy when I'm nothing but a Raven in a Fairy's clothing…?!"

Finally breaking down into tears as he felt Mirajane's hand on his back to reassure him, as he cried before her with no awareness of where he was or even who he was, he simply cried to cry and to rage against the unfairness of it all, and as he was doing this he felt Mirajane speak softly beside him.

"Idiot. None of that matters now, you know…To me, those are the words of a man who had no idea of what he should do, and fell in with people who were nothing but bad. Now, raise your head and look."

Wiping away his tears, Jack looked up and gasped as he saw everyone from the guild standing in the doorway, all of them standing there with big, shit-eating grins on their faces as they all looked at him, and at the same time gramps stood in front of the doorway and laughed loudly.

"You idiot! Whenever you joined Fairy tail nothing else matters, you're one of us, boy! And that mark on your shoulder is proof of it! So pick yourself up, quit your sobbing, and look at all of us! Does _anyone of us_ look like we could ever hate you? We heard all of that, and I can say with pride I raised my Fairies to never turn down a lost soul like you. Jack, you'll always be a fairy!"

Holding up his hand and pointing his pointer finger and thumb outward, everyone in the guild soon followed suit as he stared at them, one hundred percent speechless, his tears gone and the darkness that had been eating at him suddenly gone, replaced by a bright light that he felt as if it would envelop him! Smiling happily as he wiped the tears from his face, he was speechless as Erza walked into the room and watched along with everyone else as they suddenly saw the Raven Tail mark on his back vanish into purple mist that blew away the next second, leaving everyone speechless as Gramps spoke again.

"Total rejection of the guild symbol…I've never seen it before…what a sight! WELCOME TO THE GUILD, FAIRY!"

Laughing as everyone in the guild streamed into the room alongside Gramps, Erza put her hand on Jack's shoulder and smiled a warm smile as her Scarlet hair drifted in an invisible wind as she spoke.

"Sorry for ever doubting you, Jack. I look forward to working with you."

Grinning as everyone around him continued to welcome and greet him into the guild for a second time, Jack felt all his worries vanish in an instant in the overwhelming tide of love and friendship he got from the people who now surrounded him, and after a little bit of this, he was eventually led upstairs to the guild hall to celebrate his re-entrance into the guild, this time as an official member of Fairy tail…

After a few hours of laughing and hanging out with his new guild mates, as everyone lay on the floor either passed out drunk or napping, Jack walked over to gramps, who was still drinking on the bar beside Mirajane, and sat down and talked to him, his voice deadly serious.

"Gramps, I need to ask you something."

Putting down his mug slowly and turning to Jack, Makarov nodded.

"Go ahead, boy."

Nodding to himself, jack began to speak to gramps.

"I know that I'm a member of fairy tail now, and I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart, but…I still need to settle things with my old guild. I'll never be able to escape from their shadow if I don't go do something now…"

Smiling, Makarov clapped him on the back and gestured out to the group of people all spread out on the floor before them as he spoke.

"Sure, I understand…But jack, you aren't alone anymore! Look, you have all these guildmates to rely on in times like this! So please, as a favor to me, take at least one person with you, ok? Especially for something like this, ok?"

Leaning back and looking up at the ceiling, Jack slipped his cloak on and nodded as he began to walk up to the roof.

"I know just who to ask, then."

Going back to drinking as he watched Jack walk away, Makarov smiled as Jack made his way to the roof…

As Jack walked onto the roof, he saw Erza standing on the edge and looking out over the railing over the lake that stood behind the guild, a smile on her face as Jack walked up beside her and spoke.

"Hey, Erza."

Turning to him as he spoke to her, Erza nodded to him and looked back out over the lake as the two watched the sun set over the lake in silence, Jack finally speaking up a while later.

"I need to ask you something, Erza. I need to go settle things with my old guild once and for all, and I'd appreciate it if you would be willing to come with me to back me up, just for safety's sake."

Not moving for a few seconds, Erza soon turned to him and smiled warmly, re-quipping her armor and motioning to the stairs.

"I would be honored to help my newest guildmate with such a thing. Lead the way, Jack.

As the two made their way outside into the town and eventually to the train station, as the two took their seats in their cabin, Erza spoke up for the first time since they had left.

"I'm assuming we're going to meet the guildmaster of Raven Tail?"

Nodding, Jack spoke.

"Yeah. I contacted him not long ago and told him I had some important info to talk to him about in person, and he told me to meet him in the next town over to tell him. I'm not too sure how he'll react when I tell him about all this, and that I'm leaving Raven tail, so I'll be grateful for your help."

Smiling, she turned to look out the window and spoke as they watched the scenery fly by them as the train moved down the tracks.

"Of course."

Not long after that, they arrived at the town where Jack was supposed to meet Ivan, and after bidding Erza a fond farewell as she went into hiding until he needed her, he walked through the streets of the nearby town until he arrived at the location where Ivan had told him to meet him: A run down old shack that was about to come crumbling down, and as he stepped inside he gritted his teeth as he saw Ivan and Flare there, Ivan looking as Haughty as ever as he looked down at Jack. Finally coming to a stop before him, Jack looked up at Ivan as Ivan let out a snort and spoke in an annoyed tone.

"Well? What is the important information you needed to tell me?! ANSWER ME!"

Sensing his impatience, Jack paused for a moment to savor what he knew would infuriate Ivan and finally spoke.

"Sorry Ivan, I called you here to tell you I'm quitting the guild."

As Silence descended upon the three of them, Flare gasped softly and looked flustered as Ivan suddenly shrieked with rage and raised his hands in anger, about to strike Jack as he yelled.

"WHAT?! YOU IMPUDENT BRAT, NO ONE CAN LEAVE RAVEN TAIL UNLESS I TELL THEM TO! NO ONE CAN-"

Cutting him off, Jack grinned as he rolled up his sleeve and showed the Fairy tail symbol on his shoulder to Ivan and flare, making them gasp as he continued to speak.

"Your guild is a disease, Ivan. You force your irrational hatred for Fairy tail on everyone else in the guild, and it hangs over everyone like a miasma of general unpleasantness, and I've had enough! Fairy tail isn't the evil guild you say it is!"

Roaring in anger, Ivan raised his fist and lunged at Jack as he yelled in fury.

"ARGHHH! YOU TRAITOR, I'LL PUT YOU DOWN MYSELF!"

Closing his eyes long enough to activate Gear two, Jack laughed with pure bliss as he headbutted Ivan's head on, making him recoil in pain as his fist clanged against Jack's metal body, and as he did so Jack slugged him in the chin with all of his might, sending him flying back through the wall of the house and through five more buildings. As he stood back and dusted his fist off, Jack turned to flare and took a few steps closer to her, smiling as he spoke to her, her body trembling somewhat as she was busy looking at the destroyed wall that she had watched her guildmaster get sent through by Jack. Turning to Jack, still quivering a little bit as she listened to him as he spoke as he offered his hand to her elegantly.

"Listen, Flare…I need to ask you something…"

Her entire body going still, Flare cocked her head and made a nervous face as she glanced back at where Ivan had flown through the wall.

"G-Gearhead…What…is it?"

Just as he was about to speak, they all heard Ivan roar in anger not far away, and Jack hurriedly grabbed Flare's shoudlers and spoke to her, his face right in front of hers and making her face go red as he spoke to her.

"Listen, Flare. I know I talked to you on the train, and I wanted to give you much more time to think about something so important, but I need your answer now. Do you really hate Fairy tail, Flare? Or will you let me show you how wonderful they can be? I promise you, they won't let you down, and honestly…."

His voice quieting down to a whisper, Jack whispered almost to himself as he looked down.

" _I'm not sure I could handle leaving you to Ivan…"_

Her face blushing even harder, she seemed to fidget for a few moments, and as he was waiting for her response he heard Erza suddenly speak from beside him.

"Come on, Jack! We need to go, we can't beat a guild master like him!"

Ignoring her, he looked at flare as she seemed to be struggling to come to a decision.

"Gearhead…I-…..I-….I….I thought about what you said, and I realized I don't even know myself if I hate them or not…I don't even know if these feelings are my own or feelings Ivan forced onto me…Can you still accept me, even if I don't even know my own feelings? Am I really that special?"

Laughing as he grabbed her hand and began dragging her back out of the house, the three of them all began to run as Ivan began to pick up speed behind them, his roars of anger sending chills down their spine as he yelled back to flare as they ran back to the train as it readied to depart back to Magnolia.

"Of course I can! I don't know much of anything about myself either, so let's figure it out together, as Fairies!"

As the three ran along the streets towards the train, just as Ivan roared in anger, a paper Shikigami flew past them and was sucked into the boiler of the train. As the train began to pull away and it looked as if they wouldn't make it, Flare suddenly ran ahead of Jack and grabbed him and Erza as her hair shot out and wrapped around the railing at the end of the last of the car of the train and pulled the three into the car, saving them just as Ivan faded into the distance! The three sighed as they all lay there on the floor of the rear car, Jack was the first to speak.

"Thanks….Flare. I wasn't sure if we were going to make it there. I guess you aren't so bad after all, huh?"

Just as she was about to speak back to him, Erza suddenly seemed to finally realize that they had brought Flare along, standing up and hauling Flare to her feet and choking her against the wall of the train, her feet kicking helplessly as Jack raced to get between them. Pulling Erza's arms back desperately, he spoke between pained pulls.

"Erza…wait! She isn't…..our enemy! I want her….to join fairy tail! You said….Fairy tail….accepts every one, right…?"

Suddenly stopping, Erza set Flare down and turned away, letting her weapons disappear as she looked at Jack and spoke, her voice honest yet deadly calm as she spoke.

"Fine. I'll let you talk to her, then. I'll be heading back to the room."

Nodding as she walked away, he sat down beside Flare and looked at her as he spoke to her.

"Don't mind her, Flare. She's just wary of you because you were with Ivan, ok? I promise, Fairy tail is a wonderful place, and you'll just love it there, ok?"

Seeing her nod as she cleared her throat, Flare looked at Jack with a strange look in her eye, a look he had never seen before when he had seen her in Raven tail.

"Gearhead…I believe you. But promise me one thing, ok?"

Looking over at her, Jack raised an eyebrow as she spoke.

"Please…"

Tugging on his sleeve, she let her head droop as she spoke again.

"Don't leave me alone like that again, ok? I think…I think I kinda sort like you….Gearhead."

His face going bright, bright red, Jack leapt up and shook his head violently as if to clear such thoughts from his head, scratching his head awkwardly as he turned away and spoke.

"Uh…Y-Yeah…I promise….And quit with all the confessions you idiot, now's not the time for such things!"

Smiling as she simply sat there, her hair snaking along the ground and wrapping around his ankles, the two simply sat beside each other for the remainder of the train ride in silence, simply satisfied being in each other's company as they rode the train back to Magnolia and Fairy tail in peace and quiet…

After the train arrived back in Magnolia, the three got off the train and made their way through town, and after letting Erza stop at a cake shop to satisfy her hunger, they all finally arrived at the guild hall once more, and as they stood in front of the doors leading into it Jack took a deep breath and sighed.

"Here goes nothing…"

Swinging open the doors and almost dragging Flare inside, they entered into the guild hall as everyone was doing what they normally do, which was, in this case, having an all-out battle royale in the main hall! Dodging a flying ale mug aimed at Natsu, Erza immediately stopped in her tracks and gritted her teeth, and looked like she was about to shut them all up when another mug whacked into her from behind! Almost immediately, the entire guild went dead silent and stared at Erza as she stood perfectly still, her fists clenched and her face dark. Finally, she roared in anger and leapt into the fray, joining in the brawl and leaving Jack and Flare to stand in the doorway to watch, Jack smiling at seeing such a wonderful sight, but he heard Flare begin to chuckle beside him, and as he turned to her she looked out at everyone fighting amongst each other, seeing Natsu and Grey going at it again while Loke kept trying his hardest to flirt with the women, she spoke, a smile Jack had never seen before crossing her face.

"They certainly aren't lacking in character…are they?"

Laughing loudly and shaking his head, Jack cracked his knuckles and looked out at the massive brawl going on before them.

"No, they certainly aren't, are they? Come on, let's go introduce you to the master."

As the two walked over to where Makarov was sitting, still drinking from the same mug he always had, he looked up at Jack and then at Flare and narrowed his eyes as Jack spoke.

"Hey Gramps, I ended up bringing her back from my business with my old guild…Is it ok if she wants to join Fairy tail?"

As Flare stood there nervously, Gramps looked like he was about to get angry or something when he laughed and took another swig of his drink, and clapped Flare on the back and shook her hand vigorously.

"Of course! You know we don't turn anyone away, Jack! So, what's your name?"

Directing his gaze at Flare, she smiled nervously and cocked her head as she spoke to him.

"F-Flare. This looks like a really great place-"

Suddenly, she was interrupted as Loke suddenly appeared right behind her, his hand on his chin and a sly look in his eye as he grinned and spoke right behind her.

"Well, a new member to the guild? And one so beautiful? Nice to meet you miss,I'm-"

Before he could even finish, a massive empty keg flew across the room and slammed into Loke's head, sending him sprawling across the floor as Cana chugged another keg and yelled in a drunken rage from across the room.

"QUIET! How's a lady supposed to drink with all this Ruckus?!"

Turning back to Makarov, Flare laughed as she watched Gramps yell at Cana then turn back to her and speak.

"Ah, don't mind them, they just like goofing off too much. So Flare, we'd be happy to have you as one of us! Is there any place in particular you'd like to have the mark?"

As she and Gramps talked about various things, Jack excused himself and leapt into the fray behind him, activating gear two and entering into a fistfight with the beast of man Elfman as mugs and glasses rocketed past them. Laughing all the while, Jack and Elfman exchanged blows before Jack switched into Gear two and flew around the hall, enjoying every second of simply existing in this great guild as he stopped occasionally to put an end to Loke's advances on unsuspecting women, or land a sucker punch on Erza to rile her up into Attacking Natsu and Grey. Finally, as the fighting began to die down and people simply flopped onto the floor out of exhaustion, Jack soon found himself out in the back of the guild, sitting on the edge of the water and looking out over the lake as he thought about all the fun things that happened today.

 _I was branded a traitor to the guild, I was imprisoned, I cried like a wuss in front of the entire guild then got accepted back into it, fought my old guildmaster and took the one person I even cared about from that guild and took them here, and then got into a massive bar fight with almost everyone in Fairy tail. What a fuckin' awesome place._

As he was sitting there, smiling like a moron and lost in his thoughts, he heard Flare come up beside him and sit down, her hair tied in neat braids behind her back as she took a seat beside him and looked out over the lake with him in silence. After a while of this, her voice cut through the silence like a sharp knife, startling him from his deep focus as she spoke.

"I…I'm officially a member of fairy tail now…"

Looking sideways at her and seeing the guild mark on her right breast, he smiled and looked back out over the lake, flexing his hand and ignoring the creaks and groans the gears gave off as he spoke, his voice happy and content.

"I'm glad, I'm sure you'll just love it here, Flare…This guild is a guild unlike any other in all of Fiore, trust me on that one. Just today I cried like a baby after being confronted by Mirajane, I got into a bar fight with everyone, fist fought a man twice my size and sucker punched a woman who could fight me to a standstill, and all of this happened before noon! Nothing like _that_ could ever happen in Raven Tail, huh?"

Hearing that same, enchanting laugh that he found himself slowly liking more and more, Flare nodded at his words and looked out over at the lake, her hand touching her new guild mark absentmindedly as she spoke.

"Hah…No, I highly doubt it. If anything, I'm sure Ivan would stop a fight like that before It could get out of hand, or he would punish us all for acting like how Fairy Tail would act. I can understand why you like this place so much, Jack…I've just joined and already it feels so happy and warm, a place where friendship prospers and everyone helps everyone. But there's one thing I'm especially happy that I got to see since I've been here…"

Looking over at her with curiosity, Jack raised an eyebrow as she spoke, her voice soft and shy.

"You…you actually smile here. It's not that bad of a smile, for a Gearhead…"

Laughing nervously, Jack slugged her in the shoulder and scratched his head as he looked away.

"You idiot, I do have a name you know, not just Gearhead.."

Feeling the gears in his chest with his hand as he said so, he heard her chuckle and suddenly felt her hair wrapping around his chest! Before he could say anything, she spoken in a strangely serious tone.

"I know that…but it's just that you remind me of an old myth that I remember hearing from the Giants at the village where I grew up…"

 _Wait, you grew up in a giant village?_

Putting that aside, he merely raised an eyebrow as she continued with her story.

"The giants in that village have lived there for as long as they could remember, and they don't really venture outside of it so they never really get visitors, but they would always tell stories of the group of people who passed through the village almost two hundred years before I was born…The Giants said they made strange noises as they walked, noises like clanking and whirring, their faces serious and their bodies not giving off any energy they could even detect! One day, they just arrived in the village saying that they were exploring 'the new continent' in the name of their people. They Giants didn't know quite what to do with them, so they just gave them some food and water, then the strangers simply left, still making strange noises as they did so, and they never even came back. But when one of them took their hood down, they had hair that was so bright and so purple that even the giants thought it was strange, and their bodies sounded just like yours, from what I was told. Do you really not know if you have more of your kind out there?"

Leaning back and thinking as hard as he could, Jack closed his eyes and desperately tried to think of anything he could remember, and as he was doing so the image of an island suddenly popped into his head for a split second, an island surrounded by strange, metallic objects. Sadly, the image barely lasted for a split second before it faded, but as Jack suddenly bolted up and looked around he felt like he knew that island, that _he had been there before_. Slowly turning to Flare, he spoke slowly and deliberately.

"I….I just saw an island, sitting in the middle of the ocean I think, surrounded by strange metallic looking objects. That's all I could remember whenever you were talking about those people. Hmm, maybe Levy would be able to help me out there…"

Suddenly standing up and turning back to the guild hall, he began to dash away when he turned back to Flare and spoke, as if just now remembering she was there.

"Sorry Flare, I need to go ask Levy about this right now, before I forget about what I saw! Again, I'm really sorry!"

Running inside into the guild hall and frantically dashing around the entire hall until he finally found Levy in the Guild's library, as he tapped her shoulder she turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"Jack? What's up?"

Looking anxious, Jack spoke in a hurried tone as stood there.

"Levy, I need to tell you about something I just remembered about myself, and I need to see if you can tell me something about it!"

Her eyes going wide, Levy hopped down off the ladder she was standing on and sat down at a table where she grabbed a pen and motioned for him to speak.

"Go ahead."

Nodding, Jack closed his eyes and began to recall what he had saw.

"I saw an island in the middle of the ocean, and it looked pretty damn big, mind you…I saw things completely surrounding the island…..are they machines? I can't tell, but I feel like I've seen this sight before, many times before. It feels like…home. That's all I can remember, but I think that I can just barely make out a mountain in the far, far, distance….maybe."

Opening his eyes once more and coming back to reality, he saw Levy writing furiously, and after another few minutes she finally finished what she was doing and looked at him, her face radiating curiosity.

"Oh, I can't wait to start researching this! Don't worry Jack, with this description there can't be too many islands in the world that look like that. I'll look it up here in the library, but it'll probably be at least a little while before I have anything about it for you…But don't worry, if it's been discovered I'll figure out where it is!"

Thanking her for doing so, Jack made his way back up into the guild hall and was about to go and search for flare so he could apologize to her when he heard Erza talking to Natsu and Grey in the guild hall, surrounded by everyone else. Walking over to get a closer look at what was going on, the moment he entered Erza's line of sight she pointed at him and spoke to him.

"You. Jack, I'll have you come along with us too. You will, won't you?"

 _Wait, what? Come along to where, exactly?_

Looking around nervously, Jack finally spoke.

"Wait, what?"

Sighing, Erza turned to him and explained some things.

"Listen, I need you to come with me, Natsu, and Grey to do investigate something I heard about when I was on my job yesterday, ok? I heard some disturbing rumors about the dark guild Eisenwald and heard some of their members talking about something they called 'Lullaby'. So, we're going to go investigate! Sound good?"

Nodding hesitantly, he simply looked on in astonishment as she turned back to Natsu and Grey and began talking.

 _What have I gotten myself into?  
_ _

 **Chapter six is done! So Jack resolved his problems with Raven tail, and now Flare is in fairy tail too! With an old friend at his side, will Jack be able to hold his own against Eisenwald and their plans on his first ever large scale Fairy tail mission? In any case, I loved writing it, I'm super pumped that Flare made it into the guild, and I'll be starting the Lullaby arc next chapter to boot! I'm honestly not sure if I'll do the Galuna Island arc or not, but that's a problem for later, I suppose. Anyway, thanks for reading and I'll hopefully have enough time to keep writing the next chapter soon!**


	7. Chapter 7: A Fairy's Wrath

**Chapter Seven: A fairy's wrath**

Looking around the platform as he stood on beside Erza, Lucy, Natsu and grey as they waited for the train that would take them to the next town over where they would eventually end up marching on Eisenwald, he looked around and sighed as he thought back to what had led him to this point.

 _Sheesh. I know Erza said she wanted me to come along as they marched on Eisenwald to figure out what this 'Lullaby' magic she heard about is, but did they really need me? I just have a feeling….._

As he was lost in thought, he heard someone's voice sound in his head!

" _Jack! Can you hear me, Jack? This is Warren, from the guild! Gramps told me before he left to get in touch with you and tell you something!"_

Regaining his composure, he glanced back in the direction of Fairy Tail and absentmindedly twiddled with the gears in his wrist as he thought back.

" _Really? Didn't he go that meeting of the masters? What did he wanna tell me?"_

Hearing a pause before he heard Warren's voice in head once more, Jack raised an eyebrow as he heard Warren speak to him again.

" _He wanted you to come to the meeting with him. He said he had a feeling he couldn't shake, so he wanted you there in the area, watching for anything suspicious. Not sure why he'd want you there when there would be so many powerful masters around, but hey…don't argue with gramps I guess."_

Closing his hand in determination as he looked back at everyone as they seemed to realize he was speaking to Warren, he thought back a reply.

" _Gotcha. Thanks, Warren. Oh, how would I get there?"_

Putting his hand over his ear, Jack listened as Warren replied.

" _Just take the next in the opposite direction Erza and them are going. It's the next town in that direction."_

Saying thanks and closing the link, Jack turned back to Erza and everyone as they looked at him and began to speak.

"Hey guys, Warren just told me Gramps wants me to come to the meeting with him and watch the surrounding area to make sure nothing strange happens. Not sure what that would entail, but I guess I'll be heading in the opposite direction as you guys will be. "

Hearing them all sigh sadly, Erza smiled as she nodded and clapped him on the back.

"No worries, Jack! If gramps wants you to watch over the meeting, he must have some suspicions about lullaby like I do, or some other concerns. I have faith in him."

As Natsu and Gray bid him goodbye as they got on the train, he soon found himself standing on the platform all alone, deep in his thoughts as he waited for the train that would take him to the meeting of masters.

 _I haven't had that dream where I'm surrounded by the gears in a while….I wonder if that means I'm done getting new gears…._

Looking down at his hand absentmindedly and opening and closing it a few times, he sighed as he felt the gears under his skin ticking away like always.

 _I doubt it. This body can't be done growing and evolving, so I'm sure something will happen eventually. Until then, I suppose I'll just need to make do with the two Gears I have now…_

Just as he came out of his thoughts he realized the train was waiting on the platform! Hearing the whistle bellow as the train began to pull away, he managed to spring across the platform fast enough to leap onto the very back of the train as it pulled away from the station, sighing as he leaned back onto the railing and looked out at the scenery as he sped by him. Enjoying the view all the way to the town where the meeting was taking place, he hopped off the train as it came to a stop in the station and looked around the town for a good vantage point to survey the area. Seeing the building where the masters meeting was and noticing the large clock tower not too far from it, he smiled as he switched into gear two and flew up to the top of it, coming back to a solid form as he knelt on the very top of the tower and looked out over the town below him.

 _Not really a place you'd expect to find enough trouble to disrupt a meeting of Guild Masters, huh? Still…If there's to be any trouble here, I'd expect it would come from the railway…_

Falling deep into thought as he surveyed all potential danger spots and routes that trouble could enter town from, he didn't even notice anyone had snuck up behind him before he heard a voice that he could only describe as velvet speak from behind him, feeling a sense of dread as he listened to the voice.

"Calm down, Jack…I'm not going to hurt you, I just need to ask you a few questions…"

Realizing this person knew him, he spoke calmly back to the man, but made it clear he was on edge.

"Mind telling me who you are? I don't like be threatened from behind by someone I don't know."

Feeling the stranger dial back his threatening aura, he turned around saw a man in a strange outfit, a hood and mask covering his face and many Staffs slung over his back as his eyes narrowed and he spoke once more.

"Relax, I'm from Fairy tail, okay? I doubt anyone's told you about me, and I usually make it a policy to not associate with the guild much, but from the moment I saw you I knew you demanded my attention."

Sensing the truth in his words, Jack relaxed and nodded as he spoke.

"Yeah, okay. What is it? Am I really that special?"

Hearing the man chuckle, the man with the staves spoke with a nod.

"Jack, me and you are the same, I can sense it."

Raising an eyebrow, Jack cocked his head questioningly.

"I don't follow."

Feeling the man's hesitation, Jack waited until the man spoke about a minute later.

"You don't remember anything I think, but Jack…."

The man's voice suddenly became deadly serious.

"You aren't from this world."

Shocked into silence for a full two minutes, when Jack finally got his voice back he could only croak out a few quiet words.

"What….? No…What?"

As silence once more descended upon them, the man bowed his head as if deep in thought as he continued.

"Your existence here raises many questions…..far more than I am prepared to answer, but questions nonetheless. Before I left and came here, I remember reading about a race of people who had mastered the ability to put magic into items, and lived far outside any known territory in Edolas, but such fairy tales were thought to be myth…Interesting…"

Shaking his hands helplessly, Jack spoke up as the man's words drifted off.

"Whoa whoa, slow down! What are you talking about?" Edolas? What are you-"

Before he could finish, he suddenly doubled over in pain as he felt himself slipping into a flashback as he said the word 'Edolas'….

 _Jack found himself floating above a massive island, an Island the size of a continent that seemed to be floating In the middle of the sky, and as he looked around he could only barely make out what he somehow knew was a massive gathering of islands that houses a great kingdom in the distance, so far away it was merely a dot on the horizon. Looking around the Island below him, he saw a few tiny islands orbiting it, islands which could be mistaken for mountains!_

" _Mountains….Just like in my dream…"_

 _Floating around some more, he found himself coming closer to an island that was surrounded by mechanical creations that were comprised of innumerable gears and levers, the same magic runes covering them that he had seen on the inside of his body! Seeing dozens of people scurrying around beneath him, he only watched as he saw the people below him racing around and saying things he couldn't make out as they gathered around a massive crater at the far side of the island. Feeling a strange sense of Nostalgia as he looked at the cities of gleaming bronze and grey, before he could think about it anymore he found himself falling back into reality…_

Once again finding himself on the ledge beside the man with the strange Staves on his back, the man spoke to him as his eyes fluttered open.

"Well? Did you remember something?"

Nodding slowly, Jack sat up and rubbed his head as he spoke drowsily.

"Yea….I saw an island covered in cities made of gears and levers, surrounded by technology that looked ultra-advanced…I think that was….home?"

The man's eyes narrowing and his finger tapping his chin, he seemed to be speaking to himself.

"Hrmm…Then the legends were true….they _do_ exist. Fantastic…"

Realizing that Jack was staring at him Slack Jawed, the man suddenly addressed Jack as he began to turn away.

"Jack, you must tell no one you spoke to me, or what you have just seen. You may not know it yet, but you hold the key to finding a people once thought lost to my Kingdom, and all of Edolas. Do not forget this, and I shall be in touch with you. Be safe, and remember….tell NO ONE. If Gramps asks, you can tell him, but no one else. See ya."

As the man turned into mist and vanished into thin air, Jack sighed and sat back on the ledge of the clock tower and ran his hand through his hair.

 _I'm remembering more and more now….and I think that man was right. I may not remember much, but I do remember what Edolas is, and I do know that my home is there….at least I think so. What I don't know is what he was talking about, or what that island is….was that my home? I don't know. Even if that is my home….I think the technology in my body is important, and that I'm unique. I also have a feeling…..a feeling that's telling me that there's more to that island than what I saw…Not to mention, in my last dream I saw that same island surrounded by the ocean, no mistaking it! But that island couldn't exist in two places at once….right?_

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts from his head, he realized that someone was motioning for him down below, in front of the clock tower. Looking down and squinting his eyes, he realized it was gramps, so he let himself drift down to the ground and landed beside gramps as he spoke.

"Jack my boy, was that Mystogan I just sensed up there talking to you?"

Scratching his head as he remembered that he could tell Gramps if he asked, he sighed and nodded.

"Yeah. He wanted to talk about who I am."

Seeing Gramps's eyebrows shoot straight up, Gramps's voice went serious as he got closer to Jack and spoke.

"Really? And What'd you guys talk figure out?"

Sighing, he sat down on the grass and looked off into the horizon as he spoke, not even bothering to hold the confusion in his voice back as he did so.

"From what he said, I'm not even from this world, gramps."

Stunned into Silence, Gramps seemed to be deep in thought as he stood right in front of Jack, his eyebrows furrowed as he scratched his chin and stared into space. Finally coming out of his thoughts after about a minute, Gramps looked down at Jack sitting on the ground and smiled his big smile Jack had seen so many times before and laughed as he spoke and began to walk away.

"I see. Say no more, my boy! As far as I'm concerned, you're one of my fairies, and you always will be! If you need to talk I'll be here, but don't worry about that, ok? We'll figure it out when the time comes…For now, just continue to make sure nothing strange happens. This bad feeling isn't going away…"

Nodding as Gramps meandered back towards the building where the master's meeting was, Jack flew back up to his watch point up on the clock tower and settled back into his sentry position, his thoughts wandering to Erza and those who had gone to fight Eisenwald.

 _I wonder how they're doing….Knowing all of them, I'm sure they'll be fine._

After a few hours of watching the people below him go about their daily lives and nothing particularly exciting happening, his eyes snapped to attention as he heard some static in his head, followed by the familiar voice of Warren, his voice sounding slightly panicked.

 _J….ack? Jack! Oh good, I got through….Listen, I need you to head back across the train tracks to where Erza and them are, I think they need help! And don't worry about the master's meeting, the people who're targeting it are where Erza and them are, so you can protect them by going! Now hurry!_

Not even bothering to reply, Jack simply let himself gracefully fall forward off of his position on the clock tower, closing his eyes as he felt himself falling quicker and quicker, his body spreading out into steam as he hit the ground and shot off in the direction of the train station. As he raced through the town and eventually began racing alongside the train tracks, his mind began to race as he thought about what could be happening when he saw a deadly-looking man on a scythe shoot past him, the winds around him dispersing Jack's mist form as he reconstituted himself and looked around. Watching as the man shot towards the masters meeting, he saw Natsu shoot past him not even a second later on Happy, chasing the man on the scythe with a fury in his eyes that Jack could only assume meant that he was the man who Warren had warned him was dangerous.

 _Looks like I found a target!_

Changing direction and shooting off after the man on the scythe, he quickly caught up with him and shot past him, flying far enough ahead so he could turn around and shot back towards him, the man finally noticing the cloud of steam in front of him was unusual, but it was too late. Before he could react, Jack switched from first to second gear and solidified his body, his entire body interlocking and turning harder than steel as he continued to fall towards the man, his momentum carrying him as he grinned and snapped his right leg and caught the man right in the neck, tearing him off his scythe as the two tumbled down onto the train line. Finally getting a grip as his now-immensely heavy body dug into the tracks and slowed him down, Jack got up in time to see the man looking angry as he summoned his scythe to him once more, the winds whipping around the two as he rose into the sky.

"You dare to fight the death god? I shall rend every ounce of flesh from your bones, fly!"

Digging his legs into the ground as the man continued to whip the winds into a frenzy, he was in the middle of holding his footing when he heard Natsu land beside him, his voice sounding surprised to see Jack here.

"Jack? You lookin' to rumble with this guy too? Good! Whaddya say we do this together?"

Looking at Natsu and grinning, Jack nodded.

"Let's do this."

As Natsu's flames suddenly flared up and stood their ground against the Scythe man's winds, Jack turned and picked Natsu up with one hand and threw him like a bullet into the raging winds of the man on the scythe, watching him cut through them like a hot knife through butter as Natsu's flaming fist caught the man square in the Jaw and sent him flying back across the tracks. Leaping high into the air before the man could get a chance to get back up, Jack came down upon the man with all his might, his leg slamming hard into the man's chest as he felt all the air leave his lungs, his eyes rolling back into his head as Natsu came up beside him and cracked his knuckles as the two looked down at the man's prone form on the ground, the sounds of a magic car coming up behind them as they did so.

"We got him good, huh Jack?"

Looking at Natsu and grinning as they bumped fists, Jack nodded and laughed.

"Oh yeah! We do seem to make a good team, huh? Oh hey, what's this…?"

Kneeling down and picking up a strange-looking flute as it rolled out of the man's pack, Jack was in the middle of examining it in his hand when Erza came up beside him and took it out of his hand, her voice deadly serious as she looked at it.

"We must be careful with this, it's something from the books of Zeref! Anyway, I must say that it's nice to see you so soon, Jack…."

Nodding, Jack was about to reply when he saw the Magic car shoot past, a strange man in bandages laughing as he snatched the flute right out of Erza's hand and drove off down the tracks, his voice trailing off as he drove.

"You flies let your guard down! Ha!"

Instantly on their guard, all of them gritted their teeth as they watched him drive away. Turning to everyone else, Erza gestured for them to run after him.

"Come on, we need to get that flute back!"

Glancing down at the man with the scythe as he moaned on the ground, his eyes spinning, Jack shook the doubts out of his head about this whole thing and followed everyone else as they sprinted off down the tracks after the man who had managed to take the flute that was supposedly from the books of zeref. After chasing after him until it became dark outside, when they finally arrived they saw the man kneeling on the ground and gramps standing beside him, looking slightly drunk as tried to walk. Watching as Erza and them went over and began to see how the man in bandages was doing and asking the same of gramps, Jack was busy staring at the flute as it seemed to be laying unattended on the ground, a strange feeling he couldn't quite describe welling up in him as he walked over to the flute, almost in a trance, and picked it up and looked at it. Almost the instant he made contact with it, the runes that he knew were on the gears inside of his body suddenly showed up on his skin, their forms shifting and moving as they swirled around his hand and onto the flute as he felt his body moving against his will. His mouth flying open, he heard a voice that wasn't his own began to speak.

"Anomalous magic energy emanating from foreign object…..Initiating quarantine protocols…WARNING! CPU still incomplete, unable to isolate and lock down foreign magic signature….escape of foreign item-bound entity unacceptable, initiating absorption and dispersion protocols…."

Unable to control his own body, Jack could only watch helplessly along with everyone else beside him as the flute began to pulse and vibrate in response to the runes swirling around it, and suddenly a massive demon shot out of the flute! However, it didn't even manage to get halfway out before the runes swirling around Jack and the flute pulsed brighter, somehow sucking the demon back into the flute as the runes began to turn purple, demonic energy radiating from them as they retreated back onto Jack's skin! Turning to gramps, Natsu looked dumbfounded.

"Gramps, what's going on? Was that a demon?"

As gramps scratched his chin and set his mug down, he narrowed his eyes and stared at the runes.

"Since that flute was from the books of zeref, I would assume that a demon was bound to the flute…It looks like the machinery in Jack's body was unable to isolate it since it isn't at full power or something, so it's trying to draw it into Jack's body where it has the home court advantage and try to defeat it that way…"

Suddenly realizing what Gramps was saying, Erza suddenly turned to gramps and looked worried as she looked back at Jack, raising her hand to her chin as she mumbled to herself.

"What….what _is_ he?"

Gramps gave no reply, only narrowed his eyes as he thought about how Jack had told him he wasn't of this world, his thoughts racing as he watched purple, demonic energy stream from Jack's eyes and mouth.

 _If he's really from Edolas like Mystogan, then I can only assume that he would have experience with magic bound to items…hence this situation. I can only hope he's up to surviving a demon inside of him…_

Jack could feel the demon writhing around inside of his body as the gears and mechanical parts inside of him began rapidly shifting and moving in an effort to trap and contain the beast. He could almost see it happening in his mind's eye, the gears shifting, moving, interlocking and changing in response to the demon's every move, the runes flashing each time the demon lashed out to protect Jack's body. As his body twisted in jerked in response to the demon's every move, Jack suddenly felt himself activate gear two against his will, the damaged CPU in his brain managing to force it on to help his body resist the demon's attacks, and to help stop the erratic jerking of his body on the outside as well as it locked his limbs in place. Now that the gears were as strong as steel, they began to weave together and form massive, interlocking walls that began to surround the demon on all sides, the immense magic power the beast continued to spit out merging harmlessly into the runic markings on the gears as they continued to box the demon in. As all of this went on inside of Jack's body, he continued to watch the demon rage and spew demonic magicks all around his body, the gears absorbing most of it as they continued to close the newly formed box around the demon, finally clicking into place and trapping the beast as Jack felt his limbs slowly unlock, the mechanical voice returning to his throat as it spoke, the tone of it much less dangerous than it had been.

"Anomalous magic entity successfully contained….Beginning dissection and magical analysis of entity…Stand by."

Feeling control once more returning to him over his own body, Jack groaned as he collapsed to the ground, his vision dimming as he suddenly felt all his strength leave him.

 _Man, that must have took a lot of my power to contain that beast….I'm glad it was cooped up in that flute for so long….But does….this mean….I have…. A demon inside of me?_

His thoughts then began to drift off into darkness as he felt himself blacking out, most of his magical and physical energy reserves completely exhausted by the machinery inside of his body….

 **A few hours later…**

 _After he had blacked out, Jack felt himself having another one of his visions, only this time he felt himself floating in the middle of the sea of gears like before, but this time he saw a massive box in front of him. Occasionally, a loud and ear-splitting roar would come from it and the box would shake and glow, the runes flashing to life to absorb the power of the demon contained within. To his great surprise, he saw the runes on the box flash to life once more, only this time they were readable, and seemed to be beckoning him to read them. Floating over to them, he began to read out loud._

" _As the CPU of this unit is still too damaged to make any sort of decisions, final decision of this case shall be given to the organic. This dangerous entity is too dangerous, and cannot be contained forever. What do you wish to do with it?"_

 _Realizing the machine was growing smarter each day, and finally was contacting him, Jack regained his composure and spoke to the runic markings._

" _Uh….what are my options?"_

 _Seeing the runes flash and change, he began to read the new markings._

" _You can either:_

 _If the organic so orders, this unit shall endeavor to absorb this beast and all of its power, but in doing so may pose serious danger to the mind and body of you, the organic._

 _You may order this unit to attempt destroy the beast, and in doing so you would be safe, as would those around you. This is the safest option, but you will gain nothing from it._

 _You may release this monster from your body and out into the world around you, which would cost you and this unit nothing in terms of energy, but would likely destroy much of the surrounding area. "_

 _Scratching his chin as he examined the three options, he frowned as he stared at option three._

" _That one's out. No way."_

 _Now that his choices were down to either absorbing it or destroying it, he immediately felt himself drifting to destroying it, but he paused as he thought about how handy it would probably be to possess the power of a demon from the books of zeref. Looking back at the writings, he spoke once more._

" _Is complete absorption of the demon's power even possible? How could it even be incorporated into my body without damaging anything?"_

 _Seeing the writing pulse and change, he read it._

" _That question is unanswerable, as this unit has incomplete memories of its origins or who made it, but this unit is sure that due to various properties it possesses, it is possible to draw the power out of the demon and into the surrounding machinery. However, to answer the second question….that is unknown at this time. Estimates cannot calculate how much damage attempting to incorporate the power of a demon into the machinery of this unit will cause, because this unit has lost all memory of its intended function, and how compatible it would be with the power of a demon."_

 _Floating back a few meters, Jack scratched his chin and closed his eyes and frowned as he thought to himself. Knowing it would certainly be safer to destroy the demon, he still couldn't deny that gaining the power of a living demon from the books of zeref sounded awesome, not to mention it would be handy in any future demons they would encounter. Sighing, Jack put his palm to his face and muttered._

" _Fine…Absorb it."_

 _Seeing the runes change to simply say VERY WELL, Jack suddenly felt his chest begin to burn as he watched the box suddenly condense into the size of a small child, the demon inside wailing even louder as purple magic circle began to appear all over the surrounding gears as Jack began to fall back into reality, the roars of the demon haunting his mind as the runic markings on the gears pulsing in response….._

As his eyes snapped open and he began to scream, everyone around him gasped as his body began to take on a purple-ish hue, a demonic aura emanating from him as his body began the process of absorbing Lullaby into itself! His hands grabbing his face, Jack gritted his teeth as he felt indescribable pain searing in his chest as he felt the box surrounding the demon shatter as the machinery began to latch onto the demon's body to try and absorb it. Feeling the pain in his stomach subsiding as he felt the demon's power waning, the demonic aura around Jack's body didn't waver as Jack felt the demon inside of him shatter into a million pieces, the essence that had comprised it flowing out from it and into all the gears around it! Watching as the last of its power flowed into the machinery, Jack watched as a second set of purple runic markings appeared on the gears and such in his body, inside of the original, blue markings! Feeling the power subside and the demonic aura around him cease, Jack sat up and looked around the room, but only saw Gramps standing there with a few other people from the guild he didn't really recognize. Raising an eyebrow as he rubbed his shoulder and flexed his hand, he looked at Makarov and spoke to him.

"Hey gramps, where's Erza, Natsu, Gray and lucy?"

Seeing his eyes darken, Jack figured they had done something dangerous again.

"Natsu, Gray and Lucy took an S-class job from the board while we were tending to you, and I sent Erza after them to get them back…But now, you need to rest. I can sense that demonic energy inside of you, and it isn't stable yet, so rest. When you wake, I have something for you to do…"

As he nodded and felt Sleep once more edging into his mind, he sighed as he thought about Natsu and the others.

 _Those idiots….I hope they'll be okay…_

 **And there's chapter Seven! Sorry if it's been awhile guys, I just got on summer break and I needed to work super hard to pass my classes. Anyway, Jack's kind of going to do something else while the Galuna island arc is going on, probably training with this new Demonic power he got. I loved writing, and thanks for reading, I appreciate it! I'll try to write more before too long, so look forward to it!**


	8. Chapter 8: The demon inside

**Chapter Eight: The Demon inside**

It was a weird feeling, having the essence of a demon inside of you. Imagine however you normally feel, then add a tiny voice in the back of your mind that's always whispering to you, never shutting up for even once second, urging you to kill everyone around you. It sucks. Thinking this to no one in particular as he sat up, Jack sighed as he glanced around the wall and saw flare sitting beside his bed, her bright red hair growing around his legs as she noticed he was up and glanced at him.

"Oh, Flare….It's certainly nice to see a friendly face. This…urgh!"

Clutching his stomach and bending over as he tried to swing out of bed, Flare wrapped her hair around him to support him and spoke, her voice quivering.

"Y-You okay? I heard about what happened from gramps….."

Sighing as the pain subsided, Jack groaned and spoke.

"Yea, I'm fine…..the gears inside of me feel like they're trying to kill me. Must be the demonic energy I absorbed….OUCH! Damn, this sucks."

Not knowing what to say, Flare fidgeted some more until gramps walked in the room and made a grunting noise as he noticed Jack was up.

"Humph. You're up? Good, I have something I need you to do for me. Flare, you can come to if you want."

Turning his head to face gramps, Jack did his best to ignore the pain in his body as he spoke.

"Oh, you want us to go after Natsu and them? Bring them back?!"

Sighing, Gramps bopped Jack on the head with a gargantuan hand and spoke.

"No! I sent Erza after them for that, there's no need for you two go after them. There's a much more…..pressing….issue at hand…"

Seeing Gramps' facial features droop like he was dreading what was coming next, Jack was about to talk when he heard a loud voice come from the main guild hall, a voice that dripped was filled with arrogance…

"Hey, gramps! You finally come to your senses and decide to make me master around here? Or are you gonna bring the new kid out and let me at em'?!"

Sighing once more, Gramps ignored the voice and turned to Jack and spoke.

"That's Laxus, one of the S ranked wizards here at fairy tail….and my son. For some reason, he's come back and wants to fight you, and I have no idea why….So bear with it. As much as I would love to put that brat in his place, he's still part of our family, and family doesn't do that to family. Just humor him and go a few rounds with him, ok? I doubt he'll kill you."

Slightly worried, Jack rubbed his stomach and felt the gears churning away inside and sighed as he stood up and glanced around the room.

 _Thanks for the vote of confidence._

"No worries, gramps. I'll make you proud."

Pausing as he was about to leave the small room, Jack turned back to gramps and Flare and grinned as he spoke once more.

"But gramps…Don't be mad if I kick his ass, ok?"

Bidding Flare to follow him as he walked after Jack, Makarov sighed and smiled as he walked into the main guild hall.

"Yea, yea….Cocky brat."

Walking out into the guild hall and seeing a large, burly man with headphones around his ears, his bright yellow hair standing on end as he looked at him arrogantly, Jack stopped in front of the man and sighed as he spoke, the three people surrounding the man bristling as he spoke.

"Gramps tells me…..ow…..tells me that you wanted to see me?"

Seeming to be sizing him up, the man named Laxus crossed his arms and spoke with a voice that both demanded respect and fostered hatred at the same time.

"Yea, I wanted to see the new kid and see if he was worthy of Fairy tail! I'm gonna put you through the wringer, boy! Only the strong are worthy of being called a fairy tail wizard!"

Pausing as he watched everyone around the four of them bristle and look mad, Jack could clearly tell that Laxus's opinions on strength was not shared by the rest of the guild as he replied.

"Oh really? I suppose we'll be having a fight, then? If we are, I hope you don't plan on using your three buddies there to make this a four on one…."

Waving his hand dismissively, Laxus shook his head.

"My thunder legion doesn't need to interfere for this fight. I'm more than enough to test you! Now come on, let's head out back so we don't demolish this place."

 _So he cares about the building, at least._

As Jack followed Laxus and his 'Thunder Legion' out into the courtyard behind the guild overlooking the lake, the rest of the guild follow suit and stood by as Laxus let his massive fur coat fall to the ground as he cracked his knuckles and grinned.

"Okay then….see if you can survive! Show me your strength!"

Barely having time to switch into gear one as he saw Laxus charge at him at the speed of a lightning bolt, just as Jack felt his body drop into gear one he felt a strange, hollow sensation as he dodged the fist aimed for his head and took a few steps back. Feeling a tugging sensation in his gut that felt anything but safe, Jack was about to switch out of Gear one for Safety's sake when he felt the demonic energy inside of him raging around like a hurricane confined to a shot glass, bouncing around with such force Jack was unable to move as Laxus flew at him with a crazed look in his eye as he howled in glee.

"WEAK!"

The moment Laxus's fist hit Jack's head, Jack suddenly exploded outwards in all directions, eerie purple mist flooding outwards like a raging river and covering the entire fighting area as Laxus glanced around, clearly confused.

"What?! The hell is this magic…?"

Across the courtyard, Makarov turned to Mira as he heard her twitch and grit her teeth.

"Mira, what's wrong? Does it have something to do with this purple mist?"

After a moment of hesitation, Mira turned to gramps and spoke.

"This mist….it's making my Satan soul resonate…this mist is nothing but demonic."

His eyes going wide as dinner plates, Makarov turned back to the mist with worry in his heart, and was about to stop the fight when everyone suddenly went still as death itself as a voice clearly twisted by demonic energy echoed over the courtyard.

" _Strength? You want Strength? I'll rip you apart, limb by limb…..I'll take that strength you value so much and rip it from your soul!"_

Lightning now dancing around him, Laxus snorted and turned around in the mist as he spoke.

"Oh really? Don't think this little act will hurt m-"

In that moment, a creepy melody began to echo around the courtyard, entrancing everyone as gramp immediately remembered the Melody from when Lullaby was summoned and frantically moved into action. His fist growing massive, Gramps thrust his gargantuan hand into the mist and actually forced Jack to turn back into his human form, his hand ripping Jack from the mist and returning him to solid form, watching as the mist slowly dissipated. Looking around as if he had no idea what was going on, gramps was about to call and end to the fight when Laxus suddenly laughed.

"Oh, you are something else, kid! THIS FIGHT'S NOT OVER YET!"

Switching into Gear two before Laxus could reach him, Jack met Laxus's electrically charged fist with his own and grinned as Sparks suddenly shot into the air as their fists collided! Clearly not expecting to be met head on, Laxus grinned as he pulled back his other fist and began to charge it with electric power as he spoke.

"You're different than the others, boy….If nothing else, you're giving off that same weirdness that Mystogan always gives off! But this is where it ends!"

Just as he was about to seemingly throw his punch, Laxus suddenly roared, words coming out of his mouth as electricity shot into it.

"LIGHTNING DRAGON'S ROAR!"

With the last word Gramps tried to intervene and stop the attack, but it was too late. A beam of electricity bigger than Jack shot out of Laxus's mouth and completely engulfed him in pure electric power!

"NOOOO!"

As gramps roared in anger and grew to the size of a building, his eyes glowing red, he was about to flatten laxus when the smoke cleared and Laxus leapt back ad cursed!

"THE FUCK IS THIS?!"

As everyone turned to where Jack had been standing, they all gasped in unison, some of them vomiting as they saw what had become of Jack! Only Mira seemed unfased, her face twisted in concern and intrigue as she looked at Jack. Where Jack had been standing was now something so completely inhuman no one had any idea what it was, with no right arm, half of a right arm-shaped mass gears and wires, half of a human-looking torso with the exception of being nothing but gears and magic, with legs made of more gears and a mechanical head that was nothing but churning gears! As this abomination that might have once been Jack seemed to be locked in place, the half of a being that was left struggling to stay up as Laxus spoke first.

"He wasn't even human? Seriously, what the hell is going on? It's just half of a human shaped machine!"

Just as gramps was about to flatten Laxus for killing Jack, a sharp grinding sound was heard, making everyone turn and stare as the half of a gear-filled head began to re-arrange the gears that made it up until one eye and half of a mechanical mouth could be seen as a mechanical voice came from the thing.

" _Unit has sustained heavy damage…..one hundred percent of Organic material obliterated…..seventy two percent of mechanical material obliterated…checking vital functionality….done. Fourty eight point two percent of vital functionality remains…..Addendum….fourty nine percent….protection of central processing unit successful. WARNING! Unit is danger of complete obliteration! Activate protocol Omega Epsilon Omega, codenamed "Last resort Overdrive", to facilitate obliteration of enemy and regeneration of vital components!"_

As the thing paused, new gears appearing to regenerate the head and torso, the thing seemed to run out of things to use for replacement and turned to Laxus, the voice speaking once more.

"Reserves exhausted….Engaging attacker…"

Laughing, Laxus readied a massive bolt of lightning as he spoke.

"This thing wants to take me on? Ha! What a jo-ARGH!"

Before he could continue his gloating, the machine that had once been inside of Jack grabbed Laxus's head in the one hand it had left and lifted him effortlessly into the air, its voice once again sounding over the courtyard as Laxus actually began to scream in pain!

" _Overdrive engaged. Proceeding with execution of hostile elements and siphoning of needed magical energies..."_

As Everyone realized the thing had said _execute,_ gramps shrunk down and leapt into the arena to stop the thing from killing Laxus when Mira suddenly appeared beside the machine and put her hand its' arm and spoke into the thing's mechanical eyes, calm yet exuding a deadly aura.

"Stop this. Now."

Pausing for a moment, the machine turned to her and cocked its' head before replying.

" _Negative. This unit is in danger of destruction, and is ensuring the safety of itself and the organic contained within. Move aside, organic."_

Not budging an inch, Mira stepped in closer and spoke in a much calmer tone than before

"I understand Laxus here tried to injure Jack, but none of us could have known that would happen to him. If you kill this man, you will bring the organic inside of you nothing but trouble, so why not put Laxus down and explain to us what you need to regenerate?"

Seeming to relax its grip for a moment, the machine seemed to consider this then spoke.

" _This unit has no desire to bring harm to the organic known as Jack….but such hostility towards us cannot be ignored, organic. This man is a brute and an arrogant fool who deserves much worse than this one could inflict upon him. Why do you protect this man?"_

Sighing, Mira spoke.

"Because he's still one of us, no matter how bad or good he may be. So please…..let's figure something out."

Finally letting Laxus fall to the ground, the machine turned towards the Lake and spoke with what was almost a touch of anger.

" _This unit does not require assistance from those who lack the desire to do what must be done."_

As Laxus rose to his feet and wiped the blood that had tricked down his face from the corner of his mouth, he was silent for a moment before walking up to the machine, pausing as the two stared at each other in silence. After a moment of this, Laxus slugged the machine across the face with all his might, his voice full of disdain as he turned and left, the thunder Legion following him.

"You're too cocky, Machine. You think only you know what's best for that boy? You think only you are worthy of protecting him or whatever? Don't make me laugh, that's a load of nothing but bullshit…the fact I hurt him that bad today just shows how weak he really is. Think for a second before you decide to take on the world by yourself! And don't think I've forgotten about becoming master! You weaklings are a disgrace to the name of Fairy tail!"

Snorting as he walked out the door, Laxus was gone. As everyone turned back to the machine, they listened as it spoke.

" _That one may be right_."

Turning to Mira, the machine continued.

" _You. If you meant what you said when you offered to help this one find a solution, lend this unit your magical energy so it may regenerate."_

Just before she could agree, Makarov stepped in and pushed her back.

"I'll handle this. We don't know how much energy it'll need…."

Turning to the Machine, Makarov spoke.

"Go ahead, borrow some of mine. I'm sure I'll have plenty to let you restore yourself…."

Making no noise, the machine grabbed Makarov's outstretched hand with the one arm it had left, and everyone watched on with mouths agape as Makarov's magical energy began to flow into the machine, the machine's left arm slowly growing back! Suddenly, after its' left arm had come back and it had begun to generate the organic bits of Jack, sparks began to fly from the thing's head as it spoke.

" _Non-Hostile Magic energy detected…BZZT! WARNING! Previously dormant "Alpha Drive" system coming online….Alpha Drive online. Scanning magic energy and beginning conversion Process….."_

Clearly realizing something was going on that the machine had not predicted, gramps watched as less and less of his magic energy seemed to be flowing into the Machine, and soon enough he drew his hand back as the machine spoke.

" _Analysis….complete. Integration Stage…..commence."_

His eyes going wide, gramps seemed to understand what was happening as Mira stood beside him, confused.

"Master? You know what that thing is talking about…?"

Scratching his chin thoughtfully, Gramps nodded and spoke.

"I think so. If I'm understanding this correctly, whenever it absorbed my power a previously dormant system within it activated, and I think now it's using my energy to revive itself like it said….I'm not entirely sure."

As they watched on, they listened as the machine spoke.

" _Separating and analyzing magicks contained within magical energy…..Titan Magic…..stored and implemented….Light Magic….stored and implemented…WARNING! Unknown Magic detected in magical aura! Unknown Magic Categorized as tier 5, omega level threat! Devoting all available resources to implementation and storage of unknown magic…_ "

As everyone listened in with no clue what was going on, Makarov and Mirajane seemed to understand what was happening, and gramps actually took a step back as he let out an amazed breath.

"Impossible…it could detect some of the magic I use just by touching my Magical Aura?! It managed to copy and store My Titan and Light Magic…..and I have a feeling I know what that last one is….but I hope I'm-"

Suddenly, he was cut short as the machine suddenly began to elicit mechanical screams, gears literally flying from its' body as a glowing fairy tail emblem suddenly appeared burning on the patch of skin it had regenerated on its' chest! Gasping, Mira spoke this time.

"No…Fairy…..Fairy…."

Clenching his fists, Makarov watched on with not so much anger as astonishment as he finished Mira's sentence, his voice soft.

"Fairy Law….."

As he finished speaking, the machine began to speak as gears continued to fly out of its' body.

"WARNING! This unit is becoming unstable! Alpha Drive near critical mass, recommend purge of Alpha Drive and hard reboot of all systems!"

Sighing, Makarov could only watch as the machine continued to struggle. Beside him, Mira turned to him and spoke.

"Master, what's going on?"

Turning to her, gramps spoke after thinking for a moment.

"It managed to read some of my magicks just by touching my aura…..but it's having trouble containing Fairy Law….such a spell is not meant for one such as Jack…..not to mention it tried to absorb the energy of one of the ten wizard saints..."

Slowly but surely, the machine began to calm down, and after a minute or so it spoke as the last bits of skin began to come back.

"Magic known as "Fairy Law"…able to be stored but unable to be implemented…Returning control to organic…."

As the last bits of Jack's face came back, he blinked a few times and looked around at everyone as they stared at him, and looked down at his hand as he spoke.

"I feel….different. I feel….old."

His face contorting in anger, gramps slammed a massive fist into Jack's head and spoke.

"QUIET!"

As gramps stormed off to the guild hall in a huff, Jack looked so utterly confused as everyone sighed and followed him back in, leaving him to turn to Mira and cock his head as he spoke.

"Mira….the hell just happened?"

Smiling like she always did, Mira spoke as she began to walk back inside, with Jack close beside her.

"Ah….Laxus sort of won….If you need to know more, just ask that machine inside of you, ok? It's not really my place to say, I think."

Stopping as he watched Mira enter the guild, he sat down onto the grass and closed his eyes as he looked inside of himself in an effort to determine what had happened…..

 _Soon enough, Jack found himself floating in the same sea of gears he usually only entered in dreams. He realized this was his first time entering willingly, and was about to question the machine when he saw new addition to this massive sea of gears: a massive bookshelf, of all things! Floating over to it, he ran his hand over the wood and spoke out loud._

" _The hell is this?"_

 _No sooner had he spoke, than the mechanical voice spoke from around him._

" _This unit has activated the previously dormant "Alpha Drive", and now has the capability to copy the magicks of any and all wizards it encounters. This library was determined to be the most accurate visual representation of the copies of the magicks it encounters. Whenever you wish to use one, merely envision plucking one of the books from this library and you shall be able to use it separately from your 'Gears'…."_

 _Scratching his chin, Jack ran his fingers along the bookshelf until he found two book lined up at the very top shelf, and as he read them out loud he realized why gramps had been so mad at his 'old' comment._

 _ **TITAN MAGIC: OWNED BY MAKAROV DREYAR**_

 _ **LIGHT MAGIC: OWNED BY MAKAROV DREYAR**_

 _Sighing, Jack floated back down and was about to question how that had happened when he saw a book on a podium below him, chained up and shrouded in cloth! Floating over to it, he ran his finger over the chains as he spoke._

" _What's this one?"_

 _After a period of silence, the machine replied._

" _Unknown. Magic referred to as "Fairy Law" by MAKAROV DREYAR, but magic is too powerful to be incorporated at this time. Any attempts are likely to result in the complete destruction of both organic known as 'Jack' and this machine. Attempts at studying it are underway."_

 _Sighing, Jack shook his head and spoke once more._

" _Yeah, okay….do that. Sheesh…..I hope gramps isn't too mad at m-huh?"_

 _Turning to his left and right as he heard a womanly scream, he looked up just in time to catch flare in his arms! Incredulous, he angrily yelled at the machine._

" _How is she here?!"_

 _After Pausing for a moment, the machine spoke back._

" _Unknown."_

 _Sighing, he turned to flare and looked at her as he set her down and watched her float and spoke to her._

" _How did you get here, Flare?"_

 _Shaking her head, Flare looked around incredulously as she spoke._

" _I-…..I don't know….I just touched your shoulder and suddenly I'm falling into this place…is this your head, gearhead?"_

 _Gritting his teeth, Jack lightly chopped her on the head and spoke to her._

" _Watch it. Anyway, yea….this is my head….I think. So does this mean our minds are connected somehow?"_

 _Flare only shrugged as she continued to look around, finally making a face and smirking as she spoke._

" _Pretty empty in here, isn't it-OUCH!"_

 _Watching as Flare rubbed her head and pouted, Jack's closed his eyes and held his hand still as he spoke._

" _Hardy har. As much as I love a beautiful girl like yourself inside of my head….i'd prefer to be getting back to the real world. Is that fine with you?"_

 _Not seeing her blush as she turned away, Flare gathered her composure and managed to squeak out an affirmative as the two hurtled back towards reality…._

As Jack opened his eyes, he saw Flare beside him begin to get up as he did, and as the two of them got up and looked at each other and began to walk inside Jack stopped and stared briefly at his hand. Noticing he had stopped, Flare turned back around and cocked her head as if to ask why he had stopped, but Jacob shook his head and spoke.

"Go on ahead….I wanna try out some stuff."

Nodding after a moment of hesitation, after Flare had entered the guild hall Jack turned back to face the lake behind the guild and punched his palm, smirking as he closed his eyes.

"Let's do this!"

Envisioning himself back in that library he had seen, he found the book that had been labeled **TITAN MAGIC,** visualized plucking it from the shelf and felt it flowing through him, ready to be used. Opening his eyes as he pictured himself getting bigger, he felt his body responding as he shot into the sky, his body getting about half as large as the guild hall! Marveling at the success of his copied magic, he soon realized that this magic would perfectly go with his gear two, so as he switched into gear two and felt the gears inside of him interlocking and forming into a massive wall that boosted his defense and regenerative capabilities, he heard gramps's voice from beneath him.

"You really did copy my magic, didn't you?"

Looking down, Jack saw gramps standing there and smiled.

"I guess so. Pretty handy trick, if I don't say so myself!"

Nodding, gramps smiled and cracked his knuckles as he grew to be the same size as Jack, his massive form rippling and his eyes glowing as Jack heard his voice as steam rose from his body.

"Now…..let's put that new power of yours to the test and see whether the original or the copy is better!"

Grinning as their fists met, Jack was soon hard pressed to maintain contact with gramps as even with gear two, he was barely holding his own! Blocking a hard right jab, Jack tried to step in close and land a blow but gramps effortlessly dodged his strike and landed a few more punches to his stomach which didn't hurt at all, but wounded his pride as gramps spoke.

"Seems like the original is still better than the copy, boy! Still….you're doing well to still be standing!"

As the two embraced and began to grapple, both of them struggling to get a good hold on the other, it soon became clear that gramps's overwhelming magical energy was only barely being matched by Jack's titan magic combined with his gear two, and even then Jack was still being forced backwards! Finally flipping Jack down to the ground, Gramps laughed as the two shrunk back down to normal size and looked at each other, grinning.

"You did well to fight me with my own magic, my boy! It seems to meld well with your other powers, so you have my blessing to use it to its fullest potential from now on!"

Smiling and nodding, Jack was thinking about how useful being able to enlarge AND strengthen parts of his body would be in the future when he remembered he still had one more magic to try out! Going through the same process and pulling the other book off the shelf in his head, once he felt the Light Magic flowing through him Jack stared his fists and thought to himself.

 _How would this mix with gear one, I wonder? Would I turn into mist, like normal? Or would I like, explode into light or something? OOhhh, that sounds awesome as shit!_

Calling out to gramps as he went back to the guild entrance, Jack stopped him as he switched into gear one.

"Hey gramps! Watch this!"

Turning around with a grunt, gramps turned around just in time to see Jack explode like he normally would when activating gear one, but gramps raised an eyebrow when he saw not mist, but a massive cloud of shimmering golden light that was akin to a cloud hanging in the air! Whistling appreciatively, gramps picked up a random scrap of bark from a nearby tree and tossed it into the cloud of light to see what would happen, and sure enough it acted similar to his light magic and began to burn the bark, steam rising from the bark as it was promptly vaporized!

"Great, Jack. Try reforming and concentrating that light energy in your own body in the form of raw magic power."

Obeying, Jack reconstituted his form and began to channel the light magic, clenching his fists as a massive rumbling began to shake the ground and rattle the leaves off the trees as blinding waves of light began rippling outwards from Jack's body!

 _It works almost the same as my own Light Magic….If there's no limit to the magic this boy can absorb, he could become most terrifying if he found the right people to copy…._

His mind briefly drifting to images of Jack making contact with any of the four heavenly kings of Ishgar, but Makarov quickly dispelled such scary thoughts from his mind as he heard Jack's crying out in alarm. His focus drifting back to reality, gramps's jaw dropped as he saw Jack's bright purple hair begin to change before their eyes, streaks of pure white appearing throughout his hair! Quickly calming down, Jack seemed to be actually okay with this change as he spoke.

"White streaks? If I didn't know any better gramps, I'd say those white streaks came from you…."

Something clicking in his head at that instant, gramps snapped his fingers and realized something.

 _He doesn't just absorb our magicks…he actually takes and copies part of our aura, part of who we are, and with that he siphons the magicks he can detect out of it, leaving the rest to…..what? What happens to the rest of our aura he copied and took?_

Extending his extremely sharp senses, Makarov closed his eyes and began to try and read Jack's aura once more. Finding the same nothingness that Jack normally felt like, gramps was about to give up when he felt something else inside of him, an energy that was hidden underneath that veneer of nothingness that reminded him of himself!

 _If I wasn't standing right here, I'd say that Jack reminded me of myself! So that's how it works…..the rest of the aura is stored inside of him, left to roam around for him to access like a battery whenever he needs to use our magicks, since he can't use it himself. It's quite ingenius, actually. Whenever it needs to use our magic it switches the active aura to the one needed to use the magic, bringing it to the forefront to power the magic! Whenever it isn't in use it's harder to detect, but it's still there…_

Walking over to Jack and putting his massive hand on his head, gramps sighed and spoke.

"It can't be helped, Jack. I'm not going to tell you to never copy anyone else like that because it could be really useful one day, but just keep in mind that depending on how much of their energy and aura you absorb and copy the more of their personality you'll adopt. Since you only took about fifteen seconds of my aura, it seems you only took on a physical characteristic, or my white hair. I have a feeling if you stay in contact with someone for much longer parts of their personality could mingle with yours….Keep that in mind."

Nodding, Jack let the rumbling waves of Light Magic fade and returned himself to normal as he followed gramps back into the main guild hall. As the entered the main hall and gramps made his way back to the bar, Jack suddenly had a thought and followed him over and asked him a question.

"Gramps, what do you think if I tried to copy a wizard who uses holder-type magic, like a celestial wizard? And for that matter, what would happen if I touched their keys?"

His brow furrowing, gramps seemed to be thinking for a moment the spoke.

"I can only guess, boy. Perhaps you would take their affinity for it if you touched them, or perhaps you would copy their contracts with their spirits? As to the keys themselves, I'd recommend you never, EVER touch a spirit key now, ok? In the worst case scenario where you somehow manage to copy the magic contained within a spirit key, depending on what that even entailed you could get in very hot water with the celestial spirit world…..you might copy the powers of the spirits themselves, or perhaps be able to summon them without a key….I have no idea. This also raises other questions, like if you touched someone with requip magic like Erza, would you get the magic or would you get her armor too? Let's try to not find out anytime soon."

Just as gramps finished speaking his thoughts, the door to the guild hall swung open and familiar voices were heard as Jack turned to see who it was.

"SHUT IT, HOT HEAD!"

"YOU FIRST, ICE BOY!"

Sighing, Mira smiled beside Gramps and spoke.

"Seems like they're back."

Realizing that Natsu and the others were back, Jack turned to gramps and spoke.

"Wait, how long was I out?! For them to back back so soon…."

Gramps turned to Jack and waved his hand before speaking.

"Ah, only a few days…..they've been gone for a few days I think….But if I remember correctly…."

Watching as Gramps grew massive and seemed to get furious, Natsu, Grey and lucy stopped dead in their tracks as Gramps began to chew them out for stealing an S class quest.

Smiling from beside the bar, Jack examined his hand as he made it grow bigger with titan magic, thinking about the day's events as Flare came up beside him.

 _Man, today was strange. I wonder what's going to happen next…._

 **Man guys, I'm so sorry I've been absent for so long. This month of classes has been basically a layer of hell all by itself….Anyway, thanks for sticking with it and here's a new chapter! I'll be beginning the tower of heaven arc next chapter I think, so look forward to it! Thanks for reading!**


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